Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time
by Domingize
Summary: PMD Explorers Story - Grovyle is on his way to collect the first Time Gear. But when he arrives at Treeshroud Forest, he discovers that time has already stopped. Who could have taken the Time Gear before him? A story with plot-twists around every corner!
1. An unexpected Reunion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

**However, I do own the new characters and abilities in this story.**

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_Hello, everyone! This is the first installment of the SoF series..._

_As you might have read from the summary, this story will follow the events of PMD Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky... But with a lot of unexpected twists. So don't feel too comfortable when you, at any point in the story, think that you know how things will go on from there._

_If you are a person that is looking for a lot or fighting scenes in their PMD-fics, then you are at the right place... There will be plenty of detailed fights that will hopefully satisfy your expectations._

_From time to time, there will be background music in this story. It's completely up to you to go to Youtube and play it or not, however, they can deliver the right mood for the scenes they are used in... Or simply fit as background music for the environment._

_~ BGM: Title_

_~ Switch music: Title_

_~ Stop music_

_Pretty straight forward, isn't it?_

_Now, with this instructional A/N out of the way, let's get to the story!_

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**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

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Welcome, to a world solely inhabited by Pokemon.

This a different kind of world, where every Pokemon has a much greater potential than in any other world you might have been before.

The creatures in this world are able to learn as many attacks as they can remember... Abilities can be learned through training and various moves have been made acquirable for Pokemon that shouldn't normally get them. Each Pokemon's strength is determined by its skills and experiences.

...

What you are about to see is one of the many stories that took place in that world.

The continent of Treasure has a certain connection with one of the worlds most sacred places. Temporal Tower. It keeps time itself intact and is the home of the legendary Pokemon Dialga.

But a certain event has caused the destruction of the structure, plunging the world into an everlasting darkness.

Two beings have taken the task upon themselves to change that.

These series of events have happened in a lot of different worlds. Pokemon refer to it as... the Time Gear Crysis.

However, in the universe you are in right now... It's a little different.

* * *

**Chapter 1 - An unexpected Reunion**

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Heavy rain was pouring down onto the forested landscape around Treeshroud Forest. Dark clouds were obstructing the nightsky while occasional bolts of lighting tore through the air, lighting up the land underneath them.

In the middle of this raging storm, somewhere inside the woods, a black figure was rushing through the forest.

As another lightning-bolt shot through the sky, the figure jumped onto a soiled pathway that led into the center of the forest and was lit up by the bright light from above, revealing its identity.

It was a green gecko with a red underbelly and leaves sticking out of its arms and rear. On its head was a single leaf, resembling hair. A leather backpack was strapped onto its back. The creature was a Pokemon, a male Grovyle to be precise.

But he was not just any Grovyle... The reason why he was heading into Treeshroud Forest was because he was on a mission. He had to acquire a certain artifact that was called a Time Gear. Threeshroud Forest was one of the places said to hold such a Time Gear.

'Alright... I'm almost there.' He began to walk on the path ahead of him and didn't care about the fact that the rain had gotten him completely soaked. The winds that rushed past him didn't faze him either as the only thing on his mind was his goal.

"AACHOO!" The Grovyle sneezed loudly and rubbed his nose with his claw, a groggy expression plastered onto his face. 'Ugh... I should make this quick.'

He increased his pace and hurried deeper into the woods while memories of a recent event rushed thought his mind.

_"Hold on! Don't let go!"_

_"I can't!"_

_"WHOAA!"_

He orignally had a partner with him but an accident during their travels had separated them. 'I can't think about this now... I have to focus on getting the Time Gear.' Deciding to push the thoughts of his friend to the back of his head, he continued to run towards his destination.

When the Grovyle arrived at the center of Treeshroud Forest he was greeted with an unexpected scene.

"What the-" A huge wall, made out of what seemed to be raindrops, was standing right in front of him, the whole area behind the wall robbed of its color. When the grass-type stepped though the wall and entered the zone in which drops of rain floated in the air and not a single breeze brushed against his body, he realized what had happened and grit his teeth.

'Somebody was already here...'

Taking a Time Gear from its designated location had the unpleasant side-effect of a massive shockwave that would send everything that gets caught in its blast radius into a stasis.

The first person that came to his mind that could've been responsible for this was his partner. 'I knew she would do everything to achieve a goal but something like this would just be stupid.'

For the Grovyle it would have been no problem to outrun the explosion after taking one of the gears, however, his partner was a human and didn't have abilities like Pokemon did. 'What if she tried to take the gear and got caught in the shockwave? Dammit!'

The worry about his partner returned while he focused his gaze into an opening inside the treelines in front of him. 'If she's still there then-' Fearing the worst, he dashed deeper into the forest.

It only took him a few minutes to reach the center of the woods, which was a circular clearing with two giant trees standing in the middle. The spot between the two trees should've been where the Time Gear was located but to the Grovyle's dismay, he didn't find anything when he took his first step into the area.

'The gear... It's not here! She's not here either!' He inspected his surrounding, starting to look for clues of what could've happened before his arrival.

When he walked right in front of the spot between the trees, he noticed something at the corner of his vision. To his right, at the edge of the clearing, something blue was laying on the ground. 'What the-'

The grass-type slowly approached the object that had caught his interest. Once he was close enough, he could see that it was a blue, dog-like creature. 'It's a Pokemon...' The creature didn't move so he assumed that it was either asleep, unconscious or dead.

'Hmm, it still has color... That can only mean that it got here after the blast.'

He examined the Pokemon's features. It had black fur on its chest and blue fur on its arms and upper legs. Under its neck was something like a yellow collar. Its feet were black as well. It had a dog-like head with something like a black mask laying over its eyes and on the left and right side of its head were two appendages that looked like an extra pair of ears.

'What is a Riolu doing here? They usually only live in the mountains.'

He crouched down to inspect it a little closer. 'I wonder if it's male or female? Maybe I should look-' At that moment an inappropriate thought rushed through his head and he turned a little red. 'If it wakes up when I touch it and it turns out to be a girl, I'm dead.'

The grass-type shook his head and folded his arms, putting a thoughtful expression on his face while he planned on what to do next. 'Well, maybe this Riolu knows something...'

The whole time he was distracted with his thoughts, he didn't notice the faint glow that a symbol on the Riolu's right paw was giving off. It suddenly stirred, causing the grass-type to pay attention to it again. 'At least it's still alive.'

The Grovyle let out a deep sigh. 'I think I should take it out of here and ask it when it wakes up again.' He carefully picked the unconscious Pokemon up and threw the fighting-type over his shoulder. The Riolu was smaller than him so carrying it was not much of a problem.

'Alright... If this Pokemon doesn't know anything I'll just stick with my old plan and head to the next gear.' He was thinking about his partner and how he would hopefully meet her once he reached his next destination while he carried the unconscious Pokemon all the way out of the forest.

After a while, he reached the border of the forest and the end of the time-frozen area. As he stepped out of the zone, he noticed that the storm from before had stopped and the sun was about to rise. He could tell by the slightly red sky on the horizon.

He was about to witness a sunrise. This was special for him because it would be the first sunrise of his life. From where he came from, there wasn't something you could call a day and night circle... All he ever had was an eternal nightsky that was occupied with black clouds.

The Grovyle began to walk on the path that lead away from the forest, keeping his eyes focused on the scene in front of him.

As time passed, the horizon slowly got redder and redder. Everything around him got brighter and actual colors jumped into his eyes. The green from the grass and the leaves on the trees. The brown from the tree-bark. Everything was new to him, but the thing that impressed him the most was the sun itself.

The colors around it were just astounding to him. How the blinding yellow of the sun itself colored the sky around it into a bright red. From red to orange and then slowly to a normal blue sky.

When the first sunrays touched his skin, the grass-type was stunned for a moment as he had never felt something like this before. His leaves suddenly seemed to take in all the warmth and energy the sun was giving him, creating a funny feeling inside of the Pokemon.

The Grovyle sighed. 'I wish she could see this.'

He kept on walking on the soiled path, looking for a suitable spot to set up a camp and take a rest after running though a thunderstorm all night. That he now had to carry a Pokemon on his shoulder didn't really help his already exhausted body.

After a few hours he found a slim path at the side of the road that lead into a forest. The grass-type decided to follow it and fortuneately found a small clearing at the other end. 'This seem like decent spot.'

He placed the unconscious Pokemon next to one of the trees at the edge of the camp, leaning its body against it. The Grovyle then threw his backpack into the middle of the clearing and quickly picked up some firewood.

The grass-type was just about to set up a fireplace, when he heard a groan, causing him to look over to the Riolu again. The fighting-type was trying to move, groaning even more doing so.

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**? POV**

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My body felt like it was floating and a layer of fog seemed to occupy my senses while I slowly regained consciousness. After a while, the awareness of my limbs came back to me and the float-like feeling turned into pain. Every muscle of my body felt sore and numb at the same time and a headache joined the unpleasant perceptions...

'Ugh...'

When my senses slowly returned to me and I started to hear wind, rushing through the leaves of a tree. I was able to smell grass and wood and... Something else... I couldn't tell what it was.

The rustling of leaves and the smell of grass made me realize something. 'I'm in a forest? How did I get into a forest? The last thing I remember is-'

My brain wasn't able to give me an answer to the question. 'What the?! Why can't I remember anything? Who-'

I couldn't call forth a single memory. 'I don't even remember my name!'

Everything was blank, causing me to get a little frustrated.

'Dammit! Why can't I remember anything? I have to open my eyes.'

I tried my best to do so but my eyelids simply wouldn't respond.

My ears suddenly preceived the noise of footsteps. They were coming closer to me, meaning that somebody was approaching my half unconscious body.

For some reason, I immediately assumed that the person was male. 'Who is this? What will he do to-'

The last though made me realize something.

'I'm a girl... And if this is a guy..." In my head, anime-tears were running down my cheeks while my mind imagined very disturbing things about what this guy could do to my irresponsive body. 'What am I supposed to do if he's some kind of pervert?!'

My trail of thought was interrupted by a voice. "Hello? Are you awake?" To my dismay, it sounded male and more imaginary tears streamed down my face. 'I don't want to be molested!'

I tried to say something but I wasn't able to move my mouth, resulting in a few groans.

"Ah, I see, still not fit are we? Well just rest a little more, I'm sure you'll be fine," the voice responded.

My uneasy feeling faded when I heard the calm tone inside the voice. 'Well, he doesn't sound like a pervert...'

I tried to open my eyes again and this time with success. The only image I could register was a white blur because of the bright daylight that entered my eyes. I tried to cover my face with my hand but my muscles simply wouldn't respond, causing my limp to twitch on the ground.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the light. Everything was very blurry but I was finally able to inspect the image they were giving me. I was in the middle of a circular clearing, bushes and patches of grass growing along its edge.

What really caught my attention though, was the huge, green gecko in front of me, which was looking at me with its golden eyes.

"Hello," he said, giving me a smile.

Just then all of my muscles moved on their own, causing my body to jump while a yelp escaped my mouth.

The creature in front of me was startled by my sudden movement and jumped a bit too.

"Whoa, watch it! You should not surprise me like that," the gecko said in a stern tone.

My eyes were locked onto the creature in front of me, an expression of disbelief on my face. 'Instead of a pervert I get a huge gecko... I think I should be happy... He doesn't look like he wants to eat me or anything.'

Letting out a mental sigh, I decided to drop the inappropriate thoughts that had been flying through my head and focus on more important thing like where the hell I was and why I didn't remember anything.

"Wh..whe..?" I tried to ask where I was, however, my throat felt numb and the muscles of my mouth wouldn't respond properly.

My voice sounded strange somehow... A little higher than I expected it to. My mental voice had been a little deeper but all in all the female voice that left my throat sounded right to me.

Examining the weird creature caused my body to calm down again... Whatever he was didn't scare me for some reason as it felt like I had seen him somewhere before. His whole form was somewhat familiar with me and at that moment a name shot through my head.

"Gr-Grovyle?" I managed to say.

The Grovyle gave me a strange look. "Ah, you can speak... Can you tell me how you ended up unconscious in Treeshroud Forest?"

"Tree..shroud...Forest?" I said weakly before a cough left my mouth, somewhat clearing my throat. "I'm sorry, I don't remember anything..."

"What do you mean you don't remember anything?" My answer seemed to confuse him.

"Uhm... I don't even remember my name," I explained with a sad voice.

"Really? Are you sure?" he asked, giving me a look that told me that he didn't really believe me.

This made me try to draw out some sort of memory from my mind again but just like before, I found that everything was blank. "I can't remember a thing! Before I woke up here, there's nothing."

While the grass-type responded with a another look of disbelief, I noticed that his appearance was strangely familiar to me somehow. "Do you know who I am? I think I have seen you before."

That caused him to blink for some reason. "She thinks she remembers me?" he muttered to himself with a surprised look on his face. The Grovyle hesitated for a moment before he answered. "Ehm... No, sorry. I haven't seen a Riolu before."

"Riolu?" I repeated, very confused with his answer. "What are you talking about?"

"Wha-" He rose a nonexistent eyebrow. "You don't even remember your species anymore?"

That question made me look at my feet only to notice that something was off... They were black and doglike. I raised my left arm and looked at it to see that it was a blue paw with a white bone sticking out on its backside. My gaze then fell down onto my chest which was covered in black fur.

"What the fu-" That was definitely not what I had expected. My body somehow felt wrong to me... I was too small, my paws weren't supposed to be blue and the black fur on my chest seemed out of place as well.

The gecko looked at me with a suspicious expression when he noticed my strange reaction to seeing my own body.

"This is wrong..." I said, facing the grass-type again.

"What do you mean wrong?" he asked in a tone of slight confusion.

"My body...It shouldn't be this way," I explained, looking back down onto my feet.

His next reaction was a little strange. The grass-type's eyes widened for moment before he folded his arms and focused his eyes on me. He seemed to be in deep thought all of a sudden. After a while, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh before he opened them again and faced me once more. "Do you mean... not... human-like?"

"Human? What are-"

A sudden headache interrupted my sentence and caused my eyes to shut tight. Everything that happened around me faded into the background while visions of a familiar scenery flew through my head.

_A street with buildings on its side entered my view. I was walking on the sidewalk, other pedestrian passing by me as vehicles drove on the street. My gaze wandered downwards while I pulled out my cellphone, checking if I received any messages. A muffled voice from behind me got my attention and caused me to turn around, however, the only thing I was able to see after I did so was a strange wall made of black smoke that seemed flicker like a TV without a signal._

The vision abruptly ended and I found myself back in front of the Grovyle. I blinked a couple of times while my mind tried to put together the new information. 'I... I remember... That was a city and those people...' My eyes went wide.

"Y-yes! I'm supposed to be human!" I was now sitting up, not leaning onto the tree behind me anymore.

The grass-type's serious look turned surprised again. "If she really is human... That can only mean that-" he muttered to himself, a grin slowly appearing on his face. "If she really is her then-" His grin turned into a wide smile. "You're alive..."

"Huh?" I could only watch him with a confused look while he kept muttering to himself.

"I think I do know you," he said with a smirk.

"R-really?" My eyes widened while I leaned closer to the grass-type, trying to soak up as much information as possible from his next words.

He let out a deep sigh and sat down in front of me. "Now this is going to take a while. First of all, your name is Riley."

"Riley..." I repeated, letting the name sink in a bit. 'Hmm... Strange name.'

"You are a human that was sent to our world to safe it from a catastrophe. Shortly after you entered our world you met me and we became partners," the grass-type began to explain.

He then told me about a dark future we were supposed to come from.

Even though I had no memory what so ever, my mind could still comprehend that time travel wasn't supposed to be normal... Turning skeptical by the whole idea, I interrupted him when he was halfway done.

"Wait a second... So you are telling me that both of us are from the future?" I asked, not really able to believe his story.

He responded with a nod. "Well... You just woke up as a Pokemon... What makes you think that time travel isn't possible?"

"You got a point there..." Although I still felt a little uneasy, I decided to continue to listen to him.

He continued with his story and told me about Dusknoir, the Sableye, Dialga and Celebi.

When he mentioned Celebi and how she helped us travel back in time, his expression was different for some reason... A smile was plastered onto his face the whole time he spoke about her.

Finally he told me about the Time Gears and our plan.

"You see, if we collect all the Time Gears and bring them to Temporal Tower we can stop the paralysis of the planet from ever happening at all. And that's what we are going to do now. As I told you before, we already found the location of every gear... Or rather your special ability did. It's called the "Dimensional Scream". It let you see visions of places connected to the Time Gears," the grass-type carried on before his expression turned sad all of a sudden. "Though I doubt that we will able to trigger it again, now that you have lost you memories."

"Uhm... Okay." My mind was still trying to process everything but his story made sense to me... It also made me happy. Grovyle had just given me the most precious things the amnesia had taken from me. The most important things where there again, a name and a purpose.

"Anything else?" I questioned.

He shook his head in response. "That was everything regarding our mission... Ehm... Now that you know everything... Do you want to finish the job?" the grass-type asked in an expectant tone.

"How can I not help you after everything you told me... I promise that I'll finish this mission with you!" I declared with a wide smile.

"Well, it's nice to have you back again!" Grovyle replied. "So... Any other questions?"

"Well, can you tell me a little more about me? How I looked and how I was like as a person would be good to know..." I replied, trying to imagine myself if I still had intact memories.

"Alright... Hmm... Well, you always said that you were an average girl. You had long, blonde hair, brown eyes and always wore those strange colored cloth things. You had a strange desire to keep your body covered up at all times," he answered, with a thoughtful look.

'I was a blonde? Strange... The picture I had in mind was like-' My eyes strangely focused on my blue paws for a second before I suddenly realized something. "Wait a second!" I interrupted him, repeating the things he said about 'cloth things' in my head. "Do you mean clothes?!"

My head slowly wandered downwards and I looked at my body once more while my left eye twitched nervously. "I'm naked."

I could feel my face turn red from embarrassment as I turned away from Grovyle, trying to cover myself with my paws.

He responded with a sigh. "You have fur that's covering everything now, don't you?" he responded, a little annoyed by my reaction.

"Uhm... Yes, but... I don't even remember how all of this-" I stopped there, not wanting to make this even more awkward. "Uhm... Please act like this never happened, okay?" I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head while I got back into my previous sitting-position.

Grovyle let out another sigh that somehow sounded different than the one before... "Okay, now to the question about how you were like...Well, if you started something you finished it. You always did everything to reach your goals, even if you didn't like what you had to do... And you told me that the thing you hate the most are friends that aren't honest with you," Grovyle explained, rubbing his chin with his claw. "Hmm... It's pretty hard to describe the rest of your personality though. You had a mischievous side but most of the time you stayed serious."

I nodded in response, comparing the way he described me with the way I pictured myself in my head. 'Does that sound like me? Well, I guess I would finish something if I started it... And who does like it when friends lie to you?'

"Uhm... Thank you!" I said, smiling at him.

"No, problem... Let's hope that your memories come back someday," he answered, returning the smile.

"Yeah, I hope so too but you just gave-" The grass-type suddenly interrupted and silenced me by putting his claw against my mouth.

"Did you hear that?" he asked as he turned around and looked into the clearing.

"Hear wha-" *rustle* Then I heard it too, several bushes around the clearing were shaking.

A horde of green doglike creatures with several yellow stripes on their bodies slowly stepped into our camp, growling at us with barred teeth. I strangely recognized them as Pokemon called Electrike.

One of them that was slightly bigger than the rest, caught my attention. Somehow I knew that this one was the leader of the group.

"You are trespassing out territory!" The leader growled, taking one step forward.

"Let me handle this," Grovyle said, getting up again. He took one step towards the electric-type and held his arms up. "I'm sorry, we didn't know! We'll just pack up our stuff and leave."

"I don't think so... You're the third group of explorers this week that decided to trespass here. Teaching you a lesson so you can warn your explorer friends at your base would solve this problem... Am I right, boys?" the Electrike replied to which his pack answered with a few snarls and barks.

"I'm sad if I have to disappoint you but we're not explorers... Just two travelers that happened to stumble onto your land by mistake," Grovyle explained.

"Travelers, huh? Well, it doesn't matter anyway... As long as you two deliver our message and those pesky explorers keep their business away from our territory." The leader tensed up and slowly wandered towards Grovyle and me, his pack following closely behind him.

My partner let out a sigh while he extended the leaves on his arms. "Don't worry, Riley. I'll try to make this quick."

I didn't know why but I decided to jump onto my feet and joined the grass-type's side. "You think I would let you fight all of those guys all by yourself?" Kneeling down slightly and turning my upper body sideways a bit, I put my left paw in front of me, pointing it at one of the Electrike while I baled my right one into a fist and brought it down to my hip.

"R-Riley?" the grass-type next to me seemed to be surprised all of a sudden.

Our opponents slowly came closer, keeping up their growls in an attempt to intimidate us. Any normal human that would've been thrown into a situation like this should have been scared or at least feel uneasy.

Not me though... What I was actually feeling was... Excitement. It seemed like I had been in a similar situation before. My eyes were swaying from one opponent to the next while my mind already thought of several ways to deal with them.

"What are you doi-" Grovyle wanted to ask but was interrupted when all of the hostile Pokemon dashed forward.

My muscles seemed to move on their own when I did the same and ran at the Electrike I had decided to to be my first target.

"Wait!" I heard my partner call out from behind me but had not time to focus on him as my opponent tried to pounce on me.

A quick sidestep to my left gave me an opening on the Electrike's side. Out of instinct, I threw a punch that was purely based on muscle memory into my enemy, sending the Pokemon flying.

Blinking a couple of times, I looked at my outstretched arm for a second. 'What the...? Have I done something like this before?'

Another Electrike that was just about to do the same thing as the last one interrupted my thought. I simply sidestepped again, this time sending the electric-type flying with a kick.

Just like before, my eyes were focused on my extended foot for a moment. 'When did I learn to fight like that?'

While I got back into my basic stance, I looked to my right to find that Grovyle was doing pretty much the same thing, only that he slashed his opponents with his blades, leaving deep cuts on their bodies and sending small splashes of their blood onto the ground. Several more Electrike were heading his way and surrounded him.

I couldn't worry for him for long because the same happened to me. The two Pokemon I had knocked out didn't get up again but five of their comrades and their slightly bigger leader were all around me now.

"You're better than I thought..." The leader let out howl while his body suddenly was enchased by a hull of sparks. The other Pokemon did the same, surrounding their bodies with electricity.

I grit my teeth and tensed up again. 'Dammit... Spark. I'll get fried if I touch them.'

One of the smaller Pokemon dashed forward. It approached me the same way its fallen comrades did, however, the sparks that covered the electric-type's body left me with no other option than to evade.

The canine immediately turned around after it landed and charged at me again, joined by the remaining Pokemon. Their leader only laughed while I struggled to evade the electrical hounds.

'God dammit! I can't counter while they are covered in that electricity!' I dodged another one, some of its electricity grazing at my shoulder. "Ugh!"

'The only way to win this is to dodge long enough for them to get tired... But I don't think I can keep this up...' Another Electrike managed to graze my left arm. 'Ngh... I can't win this alone.' For some reason I didn't like the idea of asking for help in a fight but my current situation didn't give me another option than to turn to my partner.

"Grovyle!" I shouted, dodging another attack. "I need a little help here!"

I could look over to him for just a split second, only to see that he had the same problem. He might have had his blades and for some reason I also knew that he had a resistance to their attacks because of his grass-type but their electricity zapped him nevertheless.

"Riley! You're a Pokemon now! Try using a move!" he shouted back, slashing another Electrike with his blades.

'A move?' Trying to understand what he could mean left me distracted long enough for one of my opponent to land a solid hit on my right arm, shocking my whole body and leaving a burn on my limb.

"Shit!" My left eye shut tight and I noticed that my arm had become numb, only trailing behind me while I continued to dodge my enemy's assaults.

The Electrike suddenly stopped their assault and surrounded me once more, their leader slowly stepping forward.

Clutching my numb limb with my left hand, I grit my teeth and prepared myself for another attack.

"Looks like you're having a little trouble with that arm of yours," the Electrike said with a cocky grin.

Just then, Grovyle's voice called from my right. "Riley! You have to try it!"

'Try it?' Everything around me faded into the background while a headache shot through my brain. Visions of what seemed to be a memory suddenly surfaced from my mind.

_I found myself in a mountain-like landscape. The scenery resembled some kind of training ground as I could make out a couple of dummies on the side of my view. A muffled voice called out from behind me. "Try it again!"_

_A set of two black paws with spikes sticking out of their backsides entered my vision, moving together in front of me. Some sort of blue energy began to radiate around them before they moved apart and created something like a silver shining bone between them. _

_A black flickering fog suddenly obstructed my vision while another pair of muffled voices rang through my head._

_"Can I break it in two to create two bones?"_

_"I'm going to teach you a technique called Cross Slash Finish... It's similar to moves like X-Scissor and Cross Chop but isn't categorized as a move because it's a variation of-"_

The voices abruptly ended and I found myself back in reality with an Electrike that was just about to jump at me.

Not having the time to think about the new information in my head, I instinctively put my paws together in front of me, my right arm numb but luckily still responsive, and concentrated some strangely familiar energy into them. I then pulled both paws apart, creating a silver shining bone between them. When the weapon in my hands was long enough, I broke it in half, leaving me with one bone baton in each hand.

My eyes focused on my enemy's face while I pulled my left bone back. Now that I had a weapon to keep myself from getting shocked by its hull of electricity, I could easily swing my weapon straight into its face, sending the electric-type flying.

"Why, you..." The leader growled and grit his teeth. Two other Electrike decided to jump at me only to thrown back by two quick blows to their jaws.

A third Pokemon lunged at me, only to receive a bone to its side, dissolving the electricity around its body. Spinning my body around, I jumped into the air and launched the electric-type away from me with a powerful kick.

My gaze fell onto the remaining three Pokemon when I landed on the ground. The two Electrike that still were with their leader growled at me and dashed at me like the ones before.

For some reason I suddenly had all the knowledge of how to use the technique I had heard of in my memories. Deciding to test it out on one of my opponents, I dealt with the first one like I did with the ones earlier and focused on the last electric-type left besides the bigger one.

A quick upward slash pushed the Electrike's jaw upwards, leaving it's belly wide open for a follow up attack. I threw several strikes at the Pokemon's stomach, keeping it in the air with repeated vertical attacks.

'Here comes the Cross Slash Finish.'

Using the movements that were now in my muscle memory, I crossed my bones above my head and took one step towards my target, putting all of my weight onto my right foot. A full powered cross slash launched the electric-type away from me, the two bones in my hands busting into particles of blue aura due to the impact of my attack.

My eyes went wide while my gaze followed the flying Electrike with my arms stretched out behind me. 'W-whoa! My bones!'

The attack had left me wide open, leaving me barely able to notice that the leader of the pack was already in the air and about to pounce onto me.

'Dammit!' Turning towards my enemy, I quickly created a bone between my paws and brought it into a defensive position between me and the Electrike.

His teeth covered themselves in electricity and were ready to drill into my flesh right before I managed to bring my baton between jaws at the last second. The electric-type's weight and my lack of balance enabled him to push me down onto the ground, putting me onto my back with him right on top of me.

"Ugh! Get off of me!" My head had slightly hit the ground during the impact, leaving me a little dazed and with constant stinging at the back of my skull.

The Electrike's teeth were throwing sparks at my face which was now only a few inches away from my bone and his fangs. Keeping up my weapon was getting harder with every second while the electric-type tried to push its teeth down at me. I knew that my weapon wouldn't hold much longer as it slowly dimmed down and seemed to lose its energy.

'Dammit! I can't get him off! I have to-'

"Ugh!" One of the sparks hit me near my left eye, causing both of my eyes to shut tight from the pain that rushed through my face.

Just when I thought that it was over with me, the weight on me suddenly disappeared and a yelp echoed through the air.

I slowly opened my eyes to see Grovyle, looking at me with a relieved expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

My vision got a little blurry while I let my bone dissolve into a few particles of blue aura. "Thank you."

He reached his claw out to me and gave me a smile.

When I was just about to lift myself up to grab it, I began to feel tired and dizzy all of a sudden.

"Come on, let's get out of-" I wasn't able to hear his full sentence as the exhaustion from the fight and the shock from the near death experience took their toll on me. My eyes slowly closed and everything went black while my body fell back down to the ground.

* * *

**End of Chapter 1**

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_I hope you liked what you've seen so far!_

_So... I guess Grovyle has unexpectedly found his partner again. Unfortunately, they were thrown right into a fight. Something was strange though... Why would our protagonist remember how to use Bone Rush?_

_You will find an author's note, in which I tell you a bit about my thoughts of the current chapter at the end of every chapter and a trivia-section where I explain certain things about how moves and abilities work or how certain items function in the SoF-universe._

_**Oh! Another important thing: I'm currently revising this story so whenever you don't find an A/N at the beginning of a chapter, that means that that particular chapter hasn't been updated yet.**_

* * *

**_Trivia-Section_**

* * *

_**Leaf Blade:**_

_Move - Physical - Grass-Type_

_The user attacks their target with sharp blades made of leaves that are as hard as steel. This move is mainly used for repeated close range attacks. The blades can be used with a wide variety of fighting-styles and enable the user to execute a lot of different sword-based techniques._

_**Bone Rush:**_

_Move - Physical - Ground-Type_

_The user creates a solid bone made of aura, giving it ground-type properties in the process. The user's experience with the move and the amount of aura that is used to create the weapon, can lead to various effects like different shapes of the bone, giving them the ability to use this move in many different ways. This move is mainly used for repeated close range attacks._

_**Cross Slash - Finish:**_

_Technique - Physical - Ground-Type_

_The user attacks their opponent with a powerful cross slash. _

_The 'Finish' was added by a Lucario that mimicked the technique with its Bone Rush as the force of the blow dissolved the bones that were used for the attack. The technique is mainly used as a finishing move due to drawback of losing the used bones and being wide open and off balance for a moment after attacking._

_This technique requires the user to have the ability to create two bones with Bone Rush._

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**Comments, questions, suggestions? Leave a review!**


	2. A lot to learn

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - A lot to learn **_(Updated 07/23/15)_

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The first thing I felt when I regained my conciousness was a pleasant warmth. When I opened my eyes I could see that I wasn't at the clearing anymore. I was sitting on the ground, leaning onto another tree. 'Ugh... What happened? How did I get here?'

Inspecting my surroundings revealed that I was somewhere near a river. 'I remember... I fought a couple of Electrike... With Grovyle...'

Thinking about my partner managed to fully push away the grogginess and caused my gaze to sway around the area, scanning it for the grass-type.

The only things other than the river to my left and the forest to my right was a small fireplace in front of me. There was no trace of Grovyle, which made worry a bit. 'Where is he?'

Struggling at first, I stood up and wandered to the edge of the river next to me, keeping a lookout for my partner. 'He must be around here somewhere...'

When I reached the edge of the flowing water, I stopped and looked at the reflection inside of the liquid.

A confused expression wandered onto my face while I inspected my new form. 'Wow, I look like a dog.'

My blue face now resembled the one of a dog and a pair pointy, blue ears was sticking out of my head. There was something like a mask of black fur growing around my red eyes that had a mysterious, yet familar look to them.

'Red eyes?' I had no idea what my original eye color was but for some reason my crimson eyes didn't feel wrong to me.

I then looked at the side of my head, where two new tear shaped appendages were sticking out of it. They looked like an extra pair of ears but upon closer inspection, I couldn't find any function from them.

The fur between my ears was slightly longer and fell down onto my forehead as a curled tuft of hair. 'This looks familiar... Did I do my hair like that as a human?'

My gaze then moved down to my upper body, onto the yellow collar of fur above my black chest.

For some reason I turned a little confused when I inspected my chest... I couldn't really tell why but it felt as if I had expected something to be there.

Shrugging the strange feeling off, I continued to inspect myself. After checking out my new paws and black, dog-like legs, my view moved behind me.

A tail... I had a new appendage sticking out of my rear. 'This is weird... How comes I haven't noticed it before?'

For some reason having a tail felt oddly familiar. I didn't even take me a minute to figure out which muscles I had to use in order to move my new limb around.

'Maybe it feels so familiar because I can only partially remember my human body...' A smile appeared on my face. 'Well, I guess it's a good thing I don't have any problems with it!'

"Oh! Riley, you're awake again!" Grovyle's voice entered my ears and caused me to turn around. The grass-type had just entered the small clearing from the forest.

"Grovyle!" A smile wandered onto my face while I walked up to him.

"How are you?" he asked, walking up to the fire-place.

"Uhm... I'm okay. Thank you for saving me back there," I replied.

"No problem," he responded with a smile before he sat down next to the flames and a concerned look wandered onto his face. "Are you really sure you're okay? That Electrike almost managed to bite your face off."

"Yeah, that was a little scary but I'm fine. Things like that can happen in a fight." Just then my stomach suddenly growled. "I guess I'm just a little hungry!" My face turned a little red while I rubbed my belly with my paw and sat down as well.

"That's actually pretty convenient. I just collected some berries for us to eat," he explained, showing me several berries in his backpack.

Although I had different picture of food in my head, the blue berries he had collected looked pretty tasty somehow. A foggy sensation of a sweet and sour taste rushed over my tounge while I looked at our soon to be meal.

"You've slept through the whole evening and the night... That fight really must've exhausted you." Grovyle continued while he picked up a stick from the ground. "You did pretty good back there."

"Thanks!" I gave him a nervous smile and rubbed the back of my head. "Must've been instinct or something!"

"You really surprised me... I've never seen you fight like this when you were a human. It was always me who fought our battles in the future." My partner picked out some berries from his bag and pushed his skewer through them.

"For some reason I knew how to throw proper punches and kicks... It was almost like had done something like this before," I replied while he handed the stick over to me.

"It's most likely because you have the body of a Riolu now. They're fighting-types so fighting is pretty much in their blood," the grass-type said, picking up another stick from the ground. "But that still doesn't explain why you used a move like Bone Rush."

"Bone Rush?" I repeated, a thoughtful expression wandering onto my face. "I see, so that's what that move is called. For some reason I knew how to use it when you told me to try a move..." Some strange pictures were flying though my head while I tried to remember what happend before I suddenly knew how to use Bone Rush, however, building up a proper image of them in my mind wasn't possible anymore.

"Hmm... That's odd." He pulled out several more berries and began to put them onto his skewer. "What's really strange though, is that Bone Rush is a move that a Riolu shouldn't be able to use. I've read a couple of books about your new species and they said that a Riolu isn't able to use the move until they evolve into a Lucario. It's because their bodies aren't able to hold enough aura to create a solid bone like you did." the grass-type explained.

"Aura?" I blinked as I suddenly was somehow able to draw some information on it out of my mind. "That's the energy a Pokemon uses to use moves, right?

"Pretty much... It's your body's energy or life force if you want to call it like that," he answered. "It seems like your body is able to hold more aura than that of a normal Riolu... It could be a side-effect of turning into a Pokemon. You were much bigger as a human and the amount of aura your old body could hold could've transfered to this one."

"Hmm... That could actually make sense... And maybe I was able to use the move because of the instinct of this body too," I theorized with thoughtful look.

"This raises the question how you transformed in the first place... I remember that we got seperated the moment we stepped through the passage of time," the grass-type replied, mimicking my expression.

"That's the portal Celebi used to send us to the past, right?" I recalled, reviewing our conversation about the pixie in my head.

"Yes... The portal suddenly became unstable and I lost consciousness when everything turned white. The next thing I knew was waking up at a beach during the storm of last night. It took me a while to find out that I had landed on the eastern coast of this world..." He folded his arms. "The thing is that this was nowhere near the valley we entered the portal in the future... So whatever happened must've transported both of us to a different location."

It took me a moment to process all of this information. "I see... And where exactly did you find me? Somewhere near... Uhm... Treeshroud Forest, right?"

He shook his head and unfolded his arms before he gave me a serious look. "Not just near it... I found you right next to the spot where the Time Gear should've been."

"Should have been?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow and holding my berries to the fire.

Grovyle nodded and put his skewer above the flames as well. "Yes... It was gone when I arrived and time had already stopped..."

"The side-effect of taking a Time Gear..." I muttered to myself before I faced the grass-type with a shocked look. "But if it was already gone, then-"

"Right. Somebody else than us must've taken the gear," he finished for me in a serious tone.

Both of us were silent for a short moment until I spoke up again. "Could it be Dusknoir?"

"I thought that too but I don't think he or Dialga have noticed yet that we managed to travel to the past," he answered. "That there is another person trying to get the gears brings me to another theory about your amnesia... The fact that you weren't caught in the shockwave after the gear was taken can only mean that you got there afterwards. Maybe you still had your memories when you arrived in the past and made your way to the Time Gear on your own. And then when you arrived at Treeshroud Forest, you met this other 'thief'."

After following his trail of thought, I responded with a thoughtful look. "Do you think that I confronted him and that this somehow lead to my memory-loss?"

He nodded again. "It's another possibility... And a much more plausible one. That the passage of time transported you directly next to one of the gears just seems too confinient."

"Yeah... That really is a little too confinient... But shouldn't I have met that thief outside of the time-frozen area? He had to outrun the shockwave so unless he came back for some reason, we wouldn't have met next to the spot where the Time Gear should've been..." I combined.

"Maybe you two got into a fight and that somehow ended up with you getting knocked out at the center of the forest... We can only specualte about this problem until we actually get some information on this unknown person," my partner replied and pulled his skewer away from the flames. "Let's have some breakfast before we continue to discuss this problem, okay?"

"Okay, I guess..." I said, doing the same and bringing the roasted berries up to my mouth. As I had to wait for them to cool down a bit, I decided to talk about another thing from the recent fight that bothered me.

"Uhm... There's something else... I think I know how to use some kind of technique," I continued, folding my arms. "It was that move I used to finish one of those Electrike. It's called something like Cross Slash- Err... Cross Slash something."

"Hmm... I know some movements that could be called a Cross Slash... Maybe you remembered seeing me using the moves and mimicked them in the fight?" the grass-type replied.

"Yeah... That could be it..." I wasn't really happy with that explanation but decided to let it rest. 'Ugh... There was another name at the end! Why can't I remember anymore?'

After both of us finished our meals, I suddenly recalled a question that I actually wanted to ask him at the beginning of our conversation. "By the way, where are we? This doesn't look like the last clearing..."

"We are not very far from our last camp. I guess I was just unlucky to stumble into that Electrike territory. I carried you all the way to this river, built a decent fireplace and collected some berries. When I came back, you were already awake again." Grovyle answered.

"Oh...Thank you," I replied with a smile. "So... What are we going to do after this breakfast? Head towards the next Time Gear?"

"Yes, the next gear we're heading to is at Limestone Cavern which is in the Southern Jungle," the grass-type explained.

"Hmm... Okay... And then?" I further asked.

"Next, we would head up north again, to Foggy Forest. The remaining Time Gears are pretty close to it so it won't take us long to get the remaining ones after that," my partner answered.

"I see... So Limestone Cavern, Foggy Forest, the Northern Desert and finally Crystal Cave..." I summarized.

His look turned serious again. "That only leaves the gear from Treeshroud Forest which was stolen by the unknown thief. We have to find the thief and take the gear back from him or her somehow. I have a plan but before we can execute it, we need a Time Gear ourselves."

"Hmm... I guess you want to lure the thief into some kind of trap. If that person wants to steal all of the Time Gears, we can be sure that they it will come after us when we get one," I replied.

He gave me a smile. "Absolutely right... Let's focus on getting our hands onto a gear first though... If the thief manages to get all of them before us, we have to come up with another plan."

Grovyle suddenly blinked and turned around.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I have something for you," he said, picking up his backpack. The grass-type pulled out a small leather pouch after some searching and held it out to me.

"For me?" I questioned, giving the object a close look.

"It's the old pouch I used to wear when I was still a Treeko. I don't need it anymore because you made that backpack from me in the future," he replied with a faint smile.

"When you were still a-" At first I was asking myself what he meant with Treeko but when I was just about to finish my question, something in my mind clicked and I remembered that Pokemon had different forms. "Right... Pokemon can evolve..."

"Well, it was a pure coincidence that I managed to evolve. Normally nobody in the future was able to do so because time was really messed up but one day, when we were looking for the location of the gears, I suddenly evolved," he started to explain. "Celebi said that the two of us stumbled into some sort of time-anomaly or something and that was why my body was able to turn into what I am right now."

"Uhm... Okay..." I responded, still processing everything.

Grovyle pointed at the pouch in my paws. "Go on, open it. There's already a Luminous Orb and a few berries inside," the grass-type continued.

I opened the leather pouch and pulled out a blue orb with a thin leather band attached to it.

"This is the Luminous Orb. It charges when it's exposed to sunlight. All you have to do to use it is to hold it in your hand and command it to activate with your mind. Pretty nifty when we come across caves," Grovyle explained.

"I see..." I replied, putting the orb back.

He then pointed at the berries inside my pouch. "The blue ones are Oran berries. They have amazing healing effects and can mend any injury in only a few seconds."

"A few seconds? So if I had a cut on my arms or something, it would just disappear when I eat one of them?" I asked with a risen eyebrow.

Grovyle nodded. "Yes, but you can't just keep munching on Oran Berries in a fight. You have to wait a while after you ate one because your body has to digest the healing nutrients before the next berry can properly work again." The grass-type pointed at the pink berries in the pouch. "The pink ones are Pecha berries... Great against any kind of poison."

"Like an antidote?" I asked with a curious look.

He nodded again. "Yes, just like an antidote..." My partner then pointed at the green berry. "Finally, the green one is a Rawst Berry. Not only is it great for healing burns, it also makes your body more resistant to fire for a limited amount of time. If you eat a Rawst Berry before facing a fire-type, it makes it harder for them to burn you in the first place."

"That's pretty cool..." After processing the information, I closed the pouch and moved my gaze back at the grass-type. "Thanks a lot!"

Grovyle responded with a smile. "No problem. You can attach it to your leg with the leather bands on the backside," he explained, pointing at the pouch again.

"Oh! I see..." I did as told and attached the pouch on my right upper leg.

"Alright, then... I think we're good to go," Grovyle said while he got up from the ground and picked up his backpack.

"Right!" I got up as well and followed him as he walked into the forest.

We quickly made our way through the woods and onto a soiled path.

"It should only take us a few days to reach the border of the Southern Jungle," my partner said before we began our journey to our first destination.

After only a couple of minutes of walking, I began to sense a strange feeling of familarity to travelling. I was somehow drawn to gazing into the distance and admiring the landscape around us, whether it be a forest or simple plain. It felt like an old habit.

Grovyle wasn't very talkative while we travelled. Not that it really bothered me... My habit was keeping me entertained. He was probably trying to keep us on track so we didn't get lost or stumble into the territory of some wild Pokemon again.

Some occasional conversations did rise up though now and then but they were mostly comments about the landscape or corrections on our route.

We wandered until late afternoon like this when Grovyle suddenly grabbed me by my arm and pulled me into one of the bushes at the side of the road with him.

"H-hey! What are-" I tried to ask but was silenced when the grass-type placed his claw over my mouth and pushed my head down with the other one.

Before I could even struggle to get out of his grasp, I noticed some voices. From my point of view, I saw sillouettes of what seemed to be other Pokemon that were walking on the road. I couldn't really see them properly but I noticed that they were wearing equipment that was pretty similar to ours.

After they were gone, my partner released me again and stepped out of the bushes with me.

I growled at him. "What did you do that for?"

"Sorry, but I think it's better if nobody sees us," he replied with a sigh.

"Huh? Why not?" I asked with a confused look.

"First of all, what are we supposed tell them if they whip up a conversation and ask us where we come from?" he questioned in a serious tone.

"Where we come from? Uhm... We're from the futur-" I stopped myself there as I realized what my partner was getting at.

"See? I don't think they'd appreciate two Pokemon who claim to be from the future, trying to save the world by collecting the Time Gears. You already know that removing a Time Gear from its place leads to the paralysis of time in the area around them. I don't think many Pokemon would like something like that to happen..."

"I-I know! But after they get over the whole time-travel thing they might believe us! I believed you so what makes you think that nobody else would?" I asked with a sad look.

"Whether they believe us or not is not the main reason I want to stay hidden like that... There is a pretty big chance that Dusknoir is going to follow us to this time, trying to stop us from collecting the gears. If he hears rumors about two Pokemon that wander around, claiming to be from the future then we would pretty much give ourselves away to him. There's also-"

"Wait... You're not human anymore... And Dusknoir doesn't know that..." A smirk formed on his face.

"So?" I raised my eyebrow again.

"I've just come up with a backup plan if everything goes wrong and he somehow manages to find us. If I somehow get captured, we still have you to finish the job. You'd just have to lay low for a while and after that, there'd be nobody left to stop you. And even if Dusknoir left a couple of his Sableye in the past, they'd look for a human and not a Riolu! You'd still have to deal with the Pokemon of the past through... If they find out about what you are doing, that is," he responded.

"Do I really have to do something like that? It feels like I'm abandoning you that way..." I responded with a sad look.

The grass-type seemed to be startled by my change in attitude and gave me a concerned smile. "H-hey! This is just a plan for one of the worst case scenarios! It can only work under the circumstances that nobody knows that the two of us are travelling together. If Dusknoir finds us while we're together, we have no other choice than to fight him together of course."

"Right..." I said, still not really happy with the idea of leaving my partner behind.

"Anyway, we should keep the contact with Pokemon from this time to a minimum... I bet Dusknoir is going to look for every Grovyle he can find on this land, should he really come back in time... The name Riley could also catch his attention so you better keep to your species name or use a fake one whenever we really have to make contact with someone from this time..." he advised.

I could only give him a distasteful look in response as lying to other people like that just felt wrong to me. "Mmph..."

Grovyle placed his hand on top of my head all of a sudden and pulled a couple of leaves out of my fur. "Come on, now... Let's get going," he said with a smile while turned around and let them fall out of his claw.

I blinked and didn't move for a moment before I shook my head and ran after him. "H-hey! Wait up!"

We continued our journey an continued like we did before. Grovyle was keepinh us on track while I admired the landscape. Nothing much happened until the sun started to set and my partner decided to call it a day.

We made our way into another forest to look for a good place to set up a camp. After finding a decent spot, which was a small clearing next to a rocky cliff, we placed out equipment next to the stone wall and put up a small fireplace.

While my partner prepared our dinner, I was sitting next to fire and warmed my paws. After a while the grass-type sat down next to me and handed a skewer with berries on it to me.

"Thank you," I said with a smile, taking the stick out of his hand and holding it over the flames in front of me.

He did the same and focused his gaze onto the fire.

After about a minute of silence, I decided to attempt to whip up a conversation. "Uhm... So how do these moves work? Can I use something else than Bone Rush?" I questioned, facing the grass-type with a curious look.

He put his empty claw up to his chin. "Hmm... What's the best way to explain all of this? Do you still remember the different types?"

I thought about it for a second but didn't find any proper information in my mind. I knew that he was a grass-type, that I was a fighting-type and that there were several other types. "Uhm... I'm not sure... I think I know them but everything is really foggy..."

"Let me try to refresh your memory then," he replied and started to explain the different types and how they affected each other.

...

"And that's pretty everything you need to know about types..." he finished, not too long after we had eaten our meals and threw our skewers into the flames in front of us.

All of it had sounded strangely familiar to me but considering that he told me about this in the future didn't make me think too much into it. "Okay, I think I got it."

"Alright. So now that we're finished with types, let's get to the topic of moves itself. Pretty much every move uses the user's energy or aura to be executed. Let's take your Bone Rush for example here. I don't know hos exactly it works but guessing from how I use my moves, I'd say that you focus your aura into your paws and form it into a solid bone, changing its properties into ground-type."

I nodded in response, remembering how I used the move during our last fight.

"From that you see that Pokemon are not only able to use moves that are from their own type but also ones from different types. Most moves only require a general idea of what to do and how to manipulate your body's energy to be executed... That doesn't mean that every Pokemon can learn every move though..."

Some more information surfaced from my mind. "Right... A fire-type isn't able to use water-type attacks because their bodies rely on heat as their energy source while water-types rely on the water in their body's..."

My partner nodded in response. "Correct... Which Pokemon can use which moves mostly depends on typing and body-structure."

I folded my arms and put on a thoughtful look. "I see... So... Uhm... Do you think I can use something else than Bone Rush? We know that it comes somewhere from my new Riolu instincts so there should be other moves too, right?"

"Hmm... Riolu are normally able to use Quickattack. I know the move too so maybe if I show you how I do it, you can do it as well," Grovyle offered.

We got up and created some distance between us and the fire.

"Alright, let's get started. First I'm going to show it to you before I explain how I usually do it," he explained before he relaxed his whole body and began to concentrate.

His whole body was starting to give off some aura, becoming visible as white streams that slowly faded into the air at some spots. He smirked at me and suddenly vanished from my view, leaving only stirred up dust at the place he had just been standing on.

'W-what?' I frantically looked around me, trying to get him into my sight while he dashed around me with an unbelievable speed. 'Dammit, he's fast!'

After a few seconds, the swishes stopped and the dust all around me settled.

A smirking Grovyle was now standing in front of me again. "That's it."

"That was awesome!" I responded with a look of admiration.

"Okay, then... Let me explain how to do it. The principle of Quickattack is to use you body's energy or aura to increase the users overall speed. This speed-boost is commonly used to ram into your opponent with a quick dash, but there are a lot of other ways to use this move," he began to lecture but couldn't speak any further as I interrupted him.

"I think I know how it works..." For some reason I had somewhat of an idea of how to do it too. "All I have to do is to use the energy I use to create my bones and focus it all over my body..." I said, already drawing on the energy inside me.

"T-that's right," Grovyle replied with a surprised voice while I closed my eyes and started to spread the feeling of power across my body.

I could feel the streams of aura, coming off at some spots but just when I was about to push my foot into the ground and dash forward, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of familarity and a severe headache.

A grimace of pain shot onto my face while everything around me seemed to fade into the background.

_I suddenly found myself in some sort of village. Blurry shapes of buildings were standing all around me and in front of me, I could make out some sort of creature. _

_"Use Quickattack!" a muffled voice called from behind me._

_My vision moved behind me, only to reveal another figure. It was completely shrouded by black flickering smoke and, for some reason, looking at it made my headache worse. The black smoke that flickered like a TV without a signal quickly spread from it, completely obscuring my vision._

"Riley!" Grovyle's voice suddenly pulled me out of the vision and back into reality.

The next thing I knew was falling to my knees while I moved my paws up to the sides of my aching head. The aura that had formed around me busted into the air as my concentration was interrupted by the severe pain.

"Riley! What's wrong?!" Grovyle's voice called again.

I opened my eyes again and met the blurry sight of the ground. "Ugh... What was that?"

"What happened?" my partner asked.

Blinking a couple of times, I shook my head to clear up my senses. "I don't know... I... I think I remembered something..."

"Really? You remembered something?" the grass-type repeated, a hopeful expression creeping onto his face. "What was it?"

I struggled to form a clear image in my mind. "I... I don't know... All I can remember now is some sort of black figure and a headache..."

"This is strange... As soon as you try to use Quickattack, you get a severe headache and seem to remember something. If the knowledge on how to use it comes from your Riolu instincts but you remember something about your past when you try to access the information, it seems that you mind is mixing something up. Your human-mind seems to interfere with your Pokemon instincts."

"I guess I won't be able to use Quickattack then, huh?" I frowned.

"Maybe... You've been a Riolu for only a day so maybe your mind is still trying to get used to your new body. We should wait for a couple of days before you try it again," the grass-type replied.

A disappointed look wandered onto my face and my head slumped down a bit. "Dammit... I really wanted to learn that move."

"Hey, tell you what. If learning new moves doesn't work, we can try to improve your Bone Rush," he offered, obviously trying to lift my mood.

I faced him with a faint smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. Come on, create your bones. I already have something in mind to teach you," he instructed, returning the smile.

"Alright," I said, creating a bone between my paws. When it was long enough, I broke it into two batons, just like I did while we fought the pack of Electrike.

"Good..." Grovyle extended the leaves on his arms. "What I'm going to teach you is a new fighting-style."

"A new fighting-style?" I repeated, already excited to hear more.

"Try to hold your batons at the other end, that way you should be able to mimic my movements," he explained.

I did as told and held my hands up, letting my bones slide down to hold them at their other ends. The posture resembled how a thief would have held his daggers that way.

Grovyle got into a battle stance. He held his left hand in front of him, slightly lower than his face. His right hand was also in front of him only that it was a little lower, at chest height. He then kneeled down a bit, slightly putting his right leg behind him.

Copying the grass-type was surprisingly easy to do for some reason. The whole scenario of learing a new way to fight felt familiar to me somehow.

"Alright, Riley... This the basic stance from which I initiate all of my techniques. They require the knowledge of Quickattack to be executed so I'll just explain the principle of close combat for now," my partner lectured. Grovyle held his right arm up to show me the extended leaf on his arm. "When you throw an attack at your opponent, use the tip of your bone to deal the blow. The tip of my blade has the greatest velocity during a swing and it should be the same with your bone."

"And greater velocity means greater damage, right?" I combined, looking at the bone in my right paw.

"Correct. You can also increase the velocity and force of the attack by using the momentum of your whole body while you slash at your opponent," he continued. "I'll practice the movements with you tomorrow, okay?"

"Promise?" I asked with a grin.

"Promise," Grovyle answered, returning a smile.

...

"Well, it's getting late and we should really get some rest. We've got a long trip ahead of us tomorrow," he said, pulling his leaves in again.

"Okay..." I replied while I let the batons in my hands disappear.

We then went back to the fire sitting down next to it. Grovyle grabbed his backpack and looked around inside of it before he then pulled out a blanket and handed it over to me. "Here, this should keep you warm. You lost your blanket, so you can have mine."

At first I was quite confused and stared into his golden eyes with an unsure expression. "Thanks... But won't you be cold without one?"

Grovyle gave me a warm smile. "I'll be alright... Please, just take it."

While he said those word, I noticed something inside of the grass-type's eyes. A look that somehow let me know that he cared more about me than himself. But that wasn't the only thing... Something in his eyes made me feel really strange. I couldn't quite tell what it was but one things was clear to me. Whatever it was felt comfortable.

My own eyes were still locked on his when I reached my right paw out to grab the blanket. I unintentionally touched Grovyle's hand, making me flinch back a bit when I noticed what I had done.

"S-sorry!" I apologized as my blood rushed into my cheeks and a blush crept onto my face.

'Wha- Why am I...?'

With a gasp, I quickly pulled the cloth out of his hands and held it in front of me to hide the completely embarassed look I had on. A confused expression could be seen on Grovyle before he disappeared behind the white blanket.

"What's wrong?" the grass-type asked though the cloth.

"U-uhm... Just looking at the cloth!" I quickly shot out, not thinking on how stupid the excuse was. "W-well I'm going to sleep now!" Turning away from the grass-type, I rested myself onto the ground and pulled the blanket over my body. "Good night!"

My breathing was hastened and my face was still completely red while I hoped that he would buy it.

I could hear a sigh from him. "I have no idea what's gotten into you all of a sudden but well... Good night."

'Oh god... What was that just now?! His eyes just- Why would I blush to something like this? Turning into a Pokemon must've changed how I see things... Yeah... Just try to forget about it...'

My cheeks turned back to normal and my pace of breathing calmed itself while I tried to forget the incident somehow. After some struggle, I managed to push the topic aside and closed my eyes, trying to get some rest.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from all the walking, or maybe the training but as soon as I did so, I drifted into unconsciousness and fell asleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 2**

* * *

_Who could be the mysterious thief that stole the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest? _

_Grovyle could very well be a detective, the way he put up the facts and theorized about the 'case'._

_..._

_**So here's a little disclaimer: Due to the revision, where I change dialogue and even add completely new scenes now and then, some inconsitencies might occur in future chapters. **_

_**Those include that some of the scenes that I added aren't mentioned in conversations or thought-processes where they would fit very well and that some flashbacks are different from the older chapters.**_

* * *

_**Trivia - Section**_

* * *

_**Orbs:**_

_Orbs are magic-imbued spheres made of a blue, glass-like material. They can have many different effects, from stunning an enemy to changing the weather._

_In order to use an orb, the user has to touch it and mentally 'command' the sphere to activate._

_Orbs are creations of Mystery Dungeons and therefore have the greatest power when used in one of them. They work outside of dungeons as well but their magical power is reduced due to the missing time and space distortions._

_**Quickattack:**_

_Move - Physical - Normal-Type_

_The user amplifies their speed with their body's energy. The energy becomes noticable as white streams of aura that surface on the user's body. This speed-boost is commonly used for a quick ram into the user's target but it has several other uses like for dodges or quick dashes to change the user's position on the battlefield._

* * *

**_Comments, questions, suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	3. Journey to another Complication

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Updated (10/08/2015)_

_From 5000 to 15.000 words... A lot of new content for everyone that's already read this story. I hope you'll like it!_

_Why add 10.000 words to an old chapter? Well, I really wanted to show how the relationship between our protagonist and the "Sighing Detective" developed. And improve some of the older fighting scenes that had a lot more potential._

_So for everyone that's new and for every old reader..._

_Prepare yourself... for the shipping._

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Journey to another Complication**

* * *

It was early in the morning when I woke up. Grovyle was already awake and stirred around in his backpack.

He noticed me when I sat up.

"Good morning, Riley," he greeted with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yup!" I answered, returning his smile. "Thanks for blanket, again."

I got up and handed him the blanket that he had given me the day before, last night's thoughts somewhat reappearing but not bothering me.

"No problem." He grabbed it and shoved it into his backpack before he closed the bag again and looked at the ground in front of him with a disappointed expression on his face.

The grass-type let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think we might have little problem... I know the general direction to Limestone Cavern, but without a proper map it's probably going to take us a little longer to get there," he explained, facing me once more. "I thought that we put it into my backpack, but that turned out to be wrong. We must have put it into yours. And now that you have lost your bag... Well, I think we might have to contact somebody from this time after all. There has to be some travelling merchants in this time. If we are able to find one, we could buy a map from him."

"And let me guess, you want me to talk to them," I concluded, playing the scenario of talking with somebody else than Grovyle in my head. 'Shouldn't be too hard...'

"Exactly... Well, we are going the head there like we are right now. If we come across some other Pokemon we just ask them if they know any merchants. Or if we stumble across some explorers..." A smirk which I didn't like formed on the grass-type's face. "I'm sure that they will have a map... We could knock them out and-"

"No way! We are not going to steal from them!" I interrupted him with a little anger in my voice. I didn't like the idea of knocking out some random explorers, just to get a map from them. Saving the world was nice and all, but something like this felt wrong to me.

My partner responded with a confused look. "Riley?... Stealing has never been a problem for you. In the future we often stole from the Sableye and other Pokemon. You can't afford moral when it's about survival."

"Ugh... But it feels wrong to me. I don't want to harm anybody from this time just to make it easier for us. I think it's bad enough that we have to lie to them but I am not going to hurt innocent people," I explained, looking directly into his eyes.

Grovyle didn't respond.

A little disappointed by this and slightly annoyed by the topic, I turned towards the opening that led out of our clearing and slowly walked away from him. "Let's just get to the cavern... I know that we have a mission to complete, but if you want to steal something... Well, you are on your own with that."

I turned around and caught a glimpse of Grovyle as he picked up his backpack with a worried look.

"But I think I have another idea," I said while I put my arms behind my head and turned around to face him again.

The grass-type followed me to the edge of our camp, his worried expression replaced with a curious one. "An idea?"

I smiled at him. "If we find some explorers, we'll just ask them for a little spar! And in order to get the map, we simply wager for it!"

Grovyle seemed to be surprised by my offer for a moment. "A spar? How do you-" He shook his head. "Ehm... I don't think it would be a good idea to get attention like this..."

"Hmph..." Somewhat angry that he pushed my idea away like that, I gave him a pout. "It's an option, alright? At least we have a way to solve that problem now!"

He sighed and closed his eyes to think about this for a couple of seconds before he faced me again. "You're right... If we come across some explorers, we have a plan." The grass-type walked past me. "We have to find them first, though... Let's go."

"Right behind you!"

...

We continued our journey to Limestone Cavern.

Not much happened while we walked along the soiled pathway. I mostly gazed at the landscape around us while Grovyle tried to keep us on track. Occasionally, one of us brought up a conversation, however, we never managed to hold them up for very long. Most of the topics were about moves and different Pokemon, Grovyle had read about in his books.

After a couple of breaks to have a quick snack and several hours of walking, we decided to call it a day and build up a camp for the night. The sun was about only an hour away from setting when we found a suitable clearing. Conveniently, a single tree with apples growing on it, stood in the middle of our camp, saving us the effort of searching for a proper dinner.

While Grovyle worked on a proper campfire, I decided to climb on top of the tree to collect some of the red fruits. With a single jump, I managed to get onto one of the tree's branches.

"Whoa, Riley! Watch out up there!" my partner called up to me when he noticed what I was doing.

"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing!" I replied, balancing on the branch. A giant apple that was hanging on the end of the tree branch I was standing on, caught my attention when I looked up again.

Careful not to fall down, I slowly balanced towards the fruit.

"Are you sure you won't fall?" Grovyle called out again.

I looked down at him with an annoyed look. "Do you thi-" His distraction had caused me to not look where I was stepping, making my right foot slip down from the branch. "Whoaaa!" I was trying to regain my balance by flailing around with my arms but it wasn't enough to stop my body from slowly leaning to the right.

"Riley!" Grovyle's voice called while my vision began to wander towards the ground underneath me.

'Dammit!' I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact.

But instead of the estimated crash with the ground, I felt a slight bump on my back and upper legs...

An image of Grovyle entered my view when I opened my eyes again. I realized that he had caught me and was now holding me up on my back and my legs.

"You know what you are doing, huh?" he asked, giving me a smirk.

My cheeks turned hot and blush crept onto my face when I noticed that his face was pretty close to mine and that the way he was holding me resembled the way a groom would hold his bride. "U-uhm..." I broke eye-contact and only managed to whisper the next words. "Y-you're a bit close."

"Oh, sorry," he said, putting me down on the ground.

"T-thanks..." I replied, still flustered and completely embarrassed by the event.

The grass-type noticed my completely red face and responded with a smile. "Hey, no need to be so embarrassed!"

I slapped my cheeks with my paws to regain my composure. "Y-yeah... Right..."

"Let me handle the apples! See if you can get that fire working," he continued, walking past me towards the tree.

My embarrassing moment didn't get out of my head while I made my way to our campfire. 'It's nice of him to save me and all, but did he really have to catch me like this?' The image of Grovyle's face, being dangerously close to mine popped into my head, causing my blush to reappear even redder than it had been before.

'Oh, god... What am I thinking? It's almost like we were going to-"

When my imagination was just about to get to a point where I would have actually kissed the grass-type, I violently shook my head, trying to push away the stray thoughts.

'What is wrong with me?!'

I quickly walked up to our fire pit and focused on setting up a proper fire for us, successfully discarding my current thoughts. After everything was set up and Grovyle collected some apples for us, we took place next to our fire.

"Here you go," the grass-type said, offering me one of the red fruits.

"Thanks!" I thankfully grabbed it and looked at the apple for a moment.

Instinctively, I turned the fruit sideways and immediately bit a huge chunk out of it. Only two chomps later, I already swallowed and went for the next bite. In a matter of seconds, I had only the core left in my paw.

When I faced my partner to ask for another one, I was greeted with a Grovyle that was giving me a look of disbelief. The grass-type hadn't even taken one bite out of his apple.

Ignoring his strange stare, I threw my finished fruit into our fire-pit and gave my partner a smile. "Can I have another one, please?"

He sweatdropped for some reason. "Y-yeah, here you go," he said, giving me a second apple.

After our meal was finished, I had eaten six apples while Grovyle only ate two.

"So... Are we going to train now?" I questioned, getting back onto my feet. "I'm ready to work on the movements."

"Alright, let's get right to it," my partner replied before he joined me and both of us created some distance with our campfire.

We trained until sunset, teaching me some of Grovyle's basic movements to increase the damage I could deal with my new stance. When it was too dark to see, we went back to our fireplace and reviewed the training for a while. We then talked about our plans for the next day for a while before we decided to call it a day and go to sleep. Grovyle gave me his blanket again, although this time, I luckily didn't manage to touch his claw on accident.

"Good night, Riley," the grass-type said before he rested himself on the ground next to me and closed his eyes.

"Good night, Grovyle." I did the same and brought myself into a comfortable sleeping position. A couple of thoughts were shifting through my head while I drifted into sleep. I wanted to slap myself when my mind decided to think about all those embarrassing moments I had with the grass-type. It took me a slight struggle to keep myself calm and finally fall asleep.

* * *

The next day went by pretty much the same... Waking up, breakfast, traveling towards the Southern Jungle, setting up a camp when the sun was about to set, dinner and working on my fighting-skills until it was nighttime.

When both of us had rested ourselves on the grassy floor of the clearing we had set up our camp, I noticed that we had a completely clear night sky. Laying on my back, I gazed at the bright shining stars and the moon for a while before I decided to start another conversation.

"The stars look pretty nice, don't they?" I asked Grovyle, who was lying to my right.

"They sure do..." the grass-type replied. He suddenly let out a sigh that had a tone of sadness in it.

I looked at him to see what was wrong. My partner was gazing into the sky with a sad look on his face. "Something bugging you?"

"It's nothing important... I was just thinking about Celebi and how she is doing in the future," my partner explained.

"Celebi, huh?" Putting my arms behind my head, I turned towards the night sky again. "I'm sure she's fine. After everything you told me about her, I'm sure she won't run into any trouble."

"You're right..." He sighed again. "I shouldn't worry too much about her... All that matters now is our mission."

"It can't be good if we focus on our mission all the time either... We should take ourselves some time to relax too." I faced the grass-type again. "How about we do some extra training tomorrow?"

He sweatdropped. "That's what you call relaxing?"

"It will take our minds off our mission and I really want to get those movements right!" I explained, giving him a smile.

He seemed to be a little surprised for some reason. For a short moment, my partner was giving me a weird look but quickly shook his head and returned the smile. "I think we can put in an extra training-session before we leave our camp."

"Promise?" I said with a grin.

"Promise," Grovyle replied in a warm tone.

We kept on gazing into the stars and talked about the training for tomorrow until we decided to go to sleep.

* * *

I immediately threw my blanket into the air and jumped onto my feet when I woke up next morning. Catching the piece of cloth, I turned to my right and looked at Grovyle, who was still fast asleep.

"Grovyle?" I called out to my partner. "Come on! Get up! It's morning."

The grass-type murmured something and stirred around a bit before he slowly sat up and faced me with a groggy expression on his face. "Ugh... Do you have to yell like that, Riley?" He rubbed his eyes with his claw and got onto his feet.

"Yup! Come on, now! Let's train!" I replied and tossed the blanket in my paws over to him.

I could hear him mutter something under his breath while he packed it into his backpack. After we created some distance with our campfire, we began with the next step of my training.

"Okay! Now that you can actually deal some damage when you hold your bones like this, we can get to the real thing," Grovyle said, expanded his leaves and got into the basic stance of his style.

"Finally!" I cheered with a smile and threw my arms into the air.

"The fighting-style I'm going to teach you, is a combination of the basic style Gallade use and the swift speed enhancing moves my species uses," my partner began to explain. "The main idea is to use your speed to get into reach of your enemy's weak points and hit them with the movements of the Gallade-style I showed you."

"Didn't you mention that I needed Quickattack to properly use that style?" I questioned.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that you can't deal some damage with those movements I showed you... We can work on the strength part of the style for now," he explained. "Come on, create your bones."

I put my paws in front of me and created two glowing bones, spinning them in my hands before I got into the stance, Grovyle had shown me the day before.

"Show off," Grovyle muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?" I replied, pouting at him.

At first he was startled and turned red a bit but after a short moment, Grovyle regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Okay, let's see if you can put those movements to use with a little spar!"

"A spar?" I repeated while a huge smile wandered onto my face.

"We'll go until you manage to hit me with one of those batons," my partner explained, getting ready to fight me.

While I got ready myself, I scanned my opponents stance for any openings I could exploit. 'Attacking him head on probably won't work... Getting behind him probably won't work either, meaning that I can only use half of the movements he showed me...' My eyes narrowed on the grass-type in front of me. 'I guess I'll have to create an opening by force...'

**~ BGM: Future Master - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Extended)**

I dashed at my opponent and threw my right bone forward, aiming for his stomach. The grass-type simply repelled the attack with his blade, causing me to stumble back. Digging my right foot into the ground, I pushed myself towards him again and swiped at his head with my left bone. Grovyle dodged and moved his head out of the way but left his chest and stomach wide open.

Using the momentum of my attack, I hopped into the air, spun my body around and launched a kick at my opponent's stomach.

To my dismay, he immediately side-stepped to evade my foot. I let out a growl while I landed on my feet and spun my bones into a forward grip. An assault of repeated head-on attacks, which changed fluidly between forward and backward gripped moves, was thrown at my opponent but the grass-type managed to block or evade every single one of them.

'I can't deliver enough force with normal attacks!' Grovyle blocked another one of my swipes. 'That Cross Slash technique could probably break his guard!' He dodged another back-handed slash. 'Here it goes.'

Crossing my forward-gripped bones above my head, I took one step towards my opponent and prepared myself to throw the full powered attack at him while the grass-type raised his blades in front of him to defend himself.

I executed the technique and shot myself at Grovyle, hitting his blades with the cross slash. It actually managed to push him back a bit but caused my bones to disappear at the same time. 'Dammit! They broke again!'

My attack broke through my opponents defense but made me stumble forward at the same time. 'Ugh! I have to get a hit in now!' Gritting my teeth, I jumped after the Grovyle and threw my right fist at him, aiming for his stomach.

His eyes widened while my fist flew closer to him and just when my attack was about to connect, the grass-type side-stepped, causing me to fly right past him. I landed on my face when I impacted on the soiled ground. "Ugh!" The right side of my face slid on the floor until my body came to a stop.

"God dammit..." My right cheek and my whole upper body were burning in pain while I slowly pushed myself up again. Turning around to face my opponent once more, I got back into my basic stance.

Grovyle had already regained his balance and was back in his basic stance as well. "You okay?" he asked with a concerned look.

"I'm fine..." I replied, rubbing my sore cheek with my right paw.

"Was that this Cross Slash move you were talking about?" His expression turned from concerned to curious. "I hadn't put that much weight into that attack if I was you."

"Yes it was... I managed to break your guard with it and that's what matters, right?" I said with a grin before it slowly turned into a frown. "But my bones disappear for some reason whenever I use that move..."

"Well, it's only logical when you deliver a force like that. There's also the fact that a move like that leaves you completely off-balance." A smile formed on his face. "Although I have to admit that you surprised me with that second attack. If I hadn't been fast enough, you would've landed a hit for sure. You should've gone for a forward roll immediately after your punch missed though..."

"A forward roll... Yeah, that could work..." Returning a smirk, I focused my eyes on my opponent again. "Let's try it after I landed that hit on you!"

Creating two new bones in my paws, I started to dash at him, thinking of a way to break his guard another way. The grass-type raised his guard and narrowed his eyes on me to anticipate my next assault.

Another series of repeated close-combat attacks was thrown at him. The result was the same as before as he dodged or blocked every single on of them.

'I have to create an opening... If I focus his attention on blocking onto only one area, he might be caught off guard when I suddenly go for another spot!'

Aiming most of my slashes at his upper body and head managed to do the job and raised his guard to his upper area, leaving his legs wide open.

After one final left swipe that Grovyle dodged by moving his upper body back a bit, I used the momentum of the attack and spun my body around, crouching down at the same time. I sent a low sweep kick at his legs and managed to land a hit, causing him to lose contact with the ground underneath him. While the grass-type was flung almost upside down, I completed my spin and prepared a slash with my left, back-handed bone. Everything seemed to go slower as my attack drew closer and Grovyle focused his eyes on my bone.

A smirk appeared on his face.

My opponent used the momentum of his body and completely turned himself upside down, bringing his claw onto the ground. Just when my slash was about to connect, he pushed his body upward and shot himself into the air. The bone in my hand swung harmlessly through the spot he had just been while my gaze followed my partner.

'He pushed himself that high with only one arm?!' Admiring his strength for a moment, I grit my teeth and dug my right foot into the ground, regaining my balance.

The grass-type was now flying in the air above me, looking down at me with a grin. 'He's in the air! Now's my chance! If I can't hit him with a close-range attack then I have to try something else!'

I immediately executed the idea that had formed in my head and let my right bone slide into a forward-grip. Grovyle's eyes widened in shock when I threw my bone at him like a boomerang.

My sudden change in strategy surprised him as he struggled to change his position in the air. Somehow he managed to spin around, bringing his feet's direction towards the ground again. But it simply wasn't enough. The spinning projectile hit his right shoulder... but started to glow brightly when it connected for some reason.

My eyes widened when the bone suddenly released all of its stored energy, resulting in a small explosion of silver and blue energy. 'W-what? NO!'

**~ Stop music**

"Argh!" Grovyle's eyes shut tight from pain as his body was pushed towards the ground. He managed to land on his feet but stumbled slightly and clutched his right shoulder with his left arm while he pulled his leaves back in.

"G-Grovyle! Are you okay?!" I yelled, letting the bone in my left hand disappear. "I'm sorry!" I added, running up to my partner.

"Ugh... It's nothing... An Oran Berry and this will be gone in no time," he said, opening his eyes again. Grovyle slowly raised his claw from his shoulder, revealing a black burn mark on it.

A gasp escaped my mouth and my hands moved up to my chest. 'He's seriously hurt! I have to help him!' I quickly reached down to my pouch to grab one of the blue berries out of it. "I'm so sorry, here, take it," I said, holding the Oran Berry out to him.

While the grass-type grabbed it and slowly brought it up to his mouth, a feeling of guilt and regret was welling up inside of me. Grovyle was the only person that I could call a friend and now I had seriously hurt him in a spar that wasn't supposed to escalate like this.

'Will he think bad of me now?' That thought made me sad and even a little depressed, causing tears to form at the corners of my eyes.

'W-wha...' My eyes widened when I noticed. 'Why do I cry?' The thought of me crying made me angry for some reason. My now blurry vision shifted to my partner who had consumed his berry and noticed my watery eyes.

'N-no! I won't cry! Not in front of him! Not if front of anyone!' I grit my teeth and rubbed my paw across my face, trying to dry off any tears that had formed on it.

"Come on Riley. It's okay. Please don't cry-"

"I'M NOT!" I shouted, putting my paw back down. "I'm not crying!"

He just looked at me with concerned expression and didn't say anything. Right then I noticed that the burn on his shoulder had already disappeared again, as if it has never been there in the first place.

I spoke up again as a wry smile of relief crept onto my face. "It's gone..."

Grovyle returned the smile. "See? Half as bad."

Even though nothing bad happened, I still felt guilty. "I'm sorry..." My gaze moved onto the ground in front of me. "I didn't want to hurt you... You must be really mad at me... I'm so stupid... I shouldn't have used my bone like that without knowing what effect it would have..."

"Come on, Riley... I'm not mad at you and you're not stupid," he replied in a warm tone. "Nobody could've known that your bone would explode all of a sudden."

I grit my teeth and turned my head away from him. "But I really hurt you... I'm a horrible friend..."

"Really, it's okay..." I suddenly felt his claw on my right cheek. "I'm not the only one that got hurt..." He moved my head up, putting his face into my sight again. "That bruise on your cheek looks like it hurts..."

"Bruise?" I hadn't even noticed the constant stinging from my cheek up until now. Before, it had been the feeling of guilt that distracted me and even now my mind was occupied with something else that made me forget the pain.

The way his warm hand touched my face, how his eyes stared directly into mine and that spark deep inside them that made me feel comfortable for some reason. 'He doesn't care that I hurt him...'

When I realized that his face was actually pretty close to mine and that he could just move forward to- 'W-whoa!'

I didn't even have the chance to resist while my cheeks turned hot and a blush wandered onto my face. My imagination was already going wild on how it might look like if he actually did lean forward to press his lips onto mine. 'W-what am I thinking?!'

"Huh? What's wrong? Why are you blushing all of a sudden?" he asked as his expression turned confused.

That he noticed only intensified my blush and caused my eyes to widen in shock. "H-huh?" I quickly broke eye-contact and turned around, hiding my red face in shame. 'Why does he always throw me into situations like this?'

"What's with you all of a sudden?" the grass-type asked.

'God, what is wrong with me? The blushing... It's as if I actually like-' Shaking my head, I tried to push that thought away. 'I'm a human! Why would I think something like that?! God dammit! Get yourself together!'

"Riley?" he asked again.

After a moment of silence my blush died down again. 'I was just a little upset because he forgave me like that, that's all!' I turned around and faced him with a smile. "Thank you... I'm just glad that you're not mad at me!"

At first he responded with another confused look but let out a sigh and returned the smile. "Well, I'm glad you're happy again. But we still need to patch up that bruise."

Grovyle quickly walked over to his backpack and opened it. After some searching he pulled out a band-aid and an Oran Berry and made his way back to me.

The grass-type pressed some of the juice of the berry onto the band-aid and carefully placed it onto my still aching cheek. It burned a little at first but the pain immediately vanished after a few second.

"Thanks!" I said, giving him another smile.

Grovyle let out another sigh for some reason. "Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to talk about why that bone of yours exploded like it did."

My smile faded again. "You know why?"

"Yes... I've met a Lucario in the future, who was able to use Bone Rush too. The bones normally shouldn't explode like this. He mentioned that it only happened when he overcharged them with his aura," he replied.

"Overcharged?" I responded with a confused look. "That's strange... I didn't even break a sweat to create those bones..."

"Really?" he said, raising a non-existing eyebrow. "Hmm... That really is strange... Not only has your body enough aura to actually execute that move, you also seem to have so much of it that you accidentally overcharged them without even noticing any exhaustion."

My gaze fell onto my paws. "Hmm... Maybe it's because I somehow mix up the amount of aura I need with this body with the amount my old body would've needed?"

"That would be an explanation..." My partner folded his arms and let out another sigh. "Your knowledge of Bone Rush seems to come somewhere from your sub-consciousness so maybe it really is your human mind that's mixing things up with your Riolu instincts again... Anyway, that's something we can worry about later. Our priority right now to save the world, remember? We might try to investigate about this after we-"

The grass-type suddenly stopped there and looked at me with a somewhat shocked expression. It seemed as if he just had remembered something and was going over it in his mind.

"What's wrong?" I asked, feeling a little worried.

His golden eyes gave me a look I couldn't quite understand. That comforting feeling from before was gone for some reason. The only emotions I could register were sadness and guilt.

"I... It... It's nothing..." he said, breaking eye-contact.

Believing him with the way he was acting turned out to be impossible but I decided not to bother him. If he felt uncomfortable about it then I would wait for him to tell me whatever he wanted to bring it up again.

An awkward silence was hanging in the air for a few seconds.

"Nothing, huh? Well, I have nothing in my stomach right now! How about some breakfast?!" I asked, trying to raise the mood again... And also because I was getting hungry.

Grovyle gave me another confused look before he let out yet another sigh and forced a smile onto his face. "Right... Let's have some breakfast before we head out again."

We walked back to the firepit from the previous day and took place on a log we had placed besides it as a bench. "Those movements of yours looked pretty good... I'm surprised that you managed to change your grip so fluidly during an attack." Grovyle pulled out two apples. "But you should try to stick with one style... Use that combination if your opponent figures out the first movements."

"Right! That way I might catch him off guard when I suddenly change my movements!" I combined as he handed me one of the fruits.

We reviewed our fight and talked about the next time we would train while we ate our breakfast. Grovyle decided that it would be a good idea to work on the control over my aura so I could use Bone Rush without accidentally blowing myself up.

After that the two of us quickly got ourselves ready to head out again and continued our way to the Southern Jungle.

My partner was awkwardly silent while we walked on the road. Something seemed to bother him as if he was debating about something.

As usual, we traveled until the sun was about to set and made another camp. After a quick dinner, which consisted of a couple of roasted berry-skewers, we began to work on my aura.

"Alright, Riley... Today you're just going to try to get a grasp on your aura before we try Bone Rush again," he started, folding his arms.

I responded with an unsure look. "Uhm... How am I supposed to do that?"

"Close your eyes and try to concentrate. Focus on the energy inside of you," the grass-type instructed.

I did as told and closed my eyes, searching for the familiar feeling inside of me. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for. Somehow I knew exactly what I had to do... Something that felt like a blue flame was burning deep inside my body, waiting for me to draw on its power.

"I can feel it," I said, completely focused on the flame.

"T-that fast?" There was a tone of surprise in his voice. "Are you sure?"

I opened my eyes again and gave him a confused look. "Yeah. It's like a blue flame that burns inside of me."

He blinked a couple of times before he put on a surprised expression. "Wow, I thought you'd take longer to find that feeling... Well, if you're sure you found it, create a bone and focus on that flame at the same time."

"Alright..." I replied, closing my eyes again and focusing on my aura. As I drew my energy into my palm, I noticed how my inner flame seemed to shrink. I began to form a bone on my hand like I usually did, however, this time I kept an eye on how much aura I actually needed to create it. When my aura was just about to overflow, I broke the connection with my inner flame and tightened my grip on my bone.

"I think I got it..." I said, opening my eyes. "I've only used the exact amount of aura I needed to create that bone."

He seemed even more surprised. "Really? Ehm... Well, try it out then. Throw it at that tree over there and see if it explodes again."

Following his instruction, I aimed at one of the trees at the edge of the clearing and launched my weapon at it. When the bone impacted, it only busted into blue particles that slowly faded into the air.

"It didn't explode! I did it!" I cheered, throwing my arms into the air.

"That was fast..." Grovyle muttered before he faced me with a faint smile. "Alright, try it a couple more times until you don't have to focus on the flame anymore."

"Yessir!" I flashed him a grin and gave him a salute.

After about half an hour of throwing normal bones at the innocent trees, Grovyle stopped me and told me to head back to our fire-pit with him.

"Good job, Riley," he said while he sat down onto the ground.

"Thanks!" I replied, sitting down next to him.

"Alright... We should reach the border of the Southern Jungle by tomorrow evening. We'll make another camp there and head to Limestone Cavern the next morning," the grass-type explained.

"I see... So what should we train then tomorrow? I can control my aura now and I'm pretty good at your fighting-style too!" I said with a happy smile.

"How about we relax for real this time? A day without training would do you good," he suggested.

"Hmm... Maybe you're right. We should relax for real this time..." I replied. "So what should we do tomorrow?"

"Hmm... We can think of something as we make our way to the jungle, okay?" my partner said, giving me a smile.

"Okay... And today? Do you want to do some star-gazing?" I asked with a curious look.

"That's a good idea," Grovyle replied while he looked up into the almost completely black sky. "It seems we have a clear sky tonight so nothing speaks against it."

After he gave me his blanket and we laid down onto the ground, we looked up into the night sky, spotting the first couple of stars that had already surfaced.

We kept gazing at the beautiful scene above us and talked about various things from the books he had read. Grovyle also told some more funny stories from the future, forcing out a chuckle and even a couple of laughs out of me.

A couple of minutes had passed when I caught myself looking more at him than at the stars. For some reason my attention was completely focused on the grass-type all the time. 'Huh? Why do I keep looking at him?'

Just when that thought went through my head, Grovyle suddenly moved his head to the side to look at me as well. My heartbeat quickened for some reason and I quickly moved my eyes back at the night sky. I didn't know why but his gaze somehow managed to bring a blush onto my face.

"What's wrong?" His question only made me even more embarrassed.

"U-uhm... N-nothing! I'm going to sleep now!" I replied, turning my body away from him and pulling my blanket over my body.

"Ehm... Good night then..." the grass-type said in a confused tone.

"G-good night..." I replied, shutting my eyes tightly and trying to push the strange feeling away.

'What's up with all the blushing? Ugh! It's like I have a crush-' I squeezed my eyes shut even harder than before. 'N-no! How could I even have feelings like that when I'm human? Is it... Is it the new instincts of my body? But why would a canine be attracted to a reptile? UGH! God dammit! Stop thinking about it! Just go to sleep and forget about it!'

* * *

Next morning we had a quick breakfast and headed back onto the road. Nothing much happened while we travelled. Aside from occasional conversations, I mostly gazed at the scenery around us and thought of something we could do when we set up our next camp.

After only a few hours of walking, we came across a landscape that was scattered with high hills and Grovyle spoke up again. "This area looks familiar... We've been here in the future when we were looking for the Time Gear of Limestone Cavern."

"Really? Is it still far to the jungle?" I asked, giving the surrounding grassland a closer look.

"Actually..." Grovyle began to run up one of the many hills around us.

I followed him and both of us stopped at the top. "It's over there," my partner said, pointing into the new scenery behind the hill. The grassland continued for probably several miles and far away in the distance I could make out a change in the vegetation. It was the border to a forest-like area.

"That's the Southern Jungle?" I asked, admiring the beautiful view.

"Yes... I guess we managed to get there a little faster than expected," Grovyle replied. "If we get lucky and we don't take too long in the-" He stopped there and suddenly seemed to remember something. The grass-type faced me again. "Hey, Riley? Does the name 'Mystery Dungeon' ring a bell to you?"

"Mystery Dung-" A sudden jolt of pain rushed through my head as information about the dungeons surfaced from my mind.

"Riley? What's wrong?" my partner asked, giving me a concerned look.

The pain faded and I looked at the grass-type with a serious expression. "I remembered something... I think... I think a Mystery Dungeon is something like a distortion in space. They are areas where you get into a multi-floored dungeon which's appearance is based on the area that surrounds them when you enter."

Grovyle blinked and was obviously surprised. "That's right. The layout of such a dungeon changes with each time you enter it, making them very difficult to explore. There's also the fact that the dungeon conjures clones of Pokemon that attack anyone in their sight."

I could recall even more info. "Yeah... And when you get unconscious while you're inside of a dungeon, it immediately throws you back to the entrance."

"Correct. The only upside those dungeon have, is that they are sometimes filled with rare items and even money," he replied.

"So we might find some treasures when we explore it?" I asked, raising an eye-brow.

"It's possible... But we're not going in there to find treasures. We have to clear it as fast as we can," he said in a serious tone.

I gave him an annoyed look. "Geez, and here I thought you wanted to relax today..."

"Hmph..." He gave me an actual pout in response, something I had never seen from him before. With his normally calm and serious attitude, the face he was giving me was simply hilarious.

"Hahaha!" I started to laugh and after a quick glance, Grovyle joined in too. We stopped after a while and for some reason my gaze was glued onto his face afterwards. A confused expression wandered onto my face while I realized that I was staring at him... again.

Grovyle noticed and gave me a weird look. "Something on my face?"

My eyes widened for a second. 'What's wrong with me? Why do I always stare at him like that?' When the thought 'You like him' rushed through my head, I let out a low gasp but didn't blush like I did the last time. I decided to brush the strange feeling away by teasing my partner a little.

A mischievous grin wandered onto my face. "Maybe..."

"Maybe?" he repeated as a frown appeared on his.

A giggle left my lips while I placed my paw onto my mouth.

Grovyle blinked and didn't respond for a moment until he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Come on, let's go."

...

We continued to make our way over the grass-covered hills and soon reached the border of the jungle.

"Alright, here we are," Grovyle announced.

"This is the entrance to the dungeon? I only see a couple of trees and bushes..." I replied, inspecting the tree-line in front of us. There was be a small opening between two trees, where no bushes grew out of the ground, creating an entrance into the forest.

"Just wait and see... Once we pass those trees, the scenery around us is going to change completely," the grass-type explained, putting a confused expression on my face.

"Uhm... Can't we just, you know, walk around those trees? If the entrance is there-" I couldn't finish my question as my partner interrupted me.

He shook his head. "Sorry, Riley but it won't be that easy. This dungeon is like a circular barrier around the center of the jungle so it doesn't matter from which side we enter. You always have to pass through that dungeon to get inside."

"Hmm... Okay, then..." I folded my arms and gave the entrance in front of us a skeptical look. "How many floors? Any traps that spawn more often than in normal dungeons? Mosterhouse probability?"

I blinked at my own questions. Floors, traps, Monsterhouses... I suddenly knew about all the obstacles we could face inside the Mystery Dungeon. It felt as if I had already planned out those kind of preparations before sometime.

Grovyle seemed to be equally surprised. "Ehm... I think there are around 15 floors. It might be different from the future version because time is still flowing here. About traps, I'm not really sure about them either. And Monsterhouses... I think we had to deal with one in the future version of the jungle, meaning that there is a chance that we might come across one again."

"Uhm... I see..." A worried look wandered onto my face. "Is there a reason why you're looking at me like that?"

"Oh, ehm... It's just that you never really cared about what we had to face in a dungeon before. You only followed me while I cleared the floors and defeated any wild Pokemon we came across," he explained.

"Hmm... I guess I care about that stuff now because I can actually be of assistance this time," I replied before I put on a smile. "I'll have your back in there, alright?"

His confused expression faded and was replaced with a smirk. "Yeah... Thank you, Riley."

"And after we clear this thing we'll relax, right?" I asked, putting my hands behind my head.

"Ehm... That depends on how much time we spend in the dungeon... You see, inside a Mystery Dungeon, not only space is distorted, time is messed up as well. In some dungeons, the time that passes inside is different from the time that passes outside," my partner answered.

"Oh! Right! I totally forgot the random time-distortions!" I replied, bringing my paws in front of my body and hitting my left fist into my right palm.

Something seemed to bug my partner all of a sudden as he was facing me with an unsure expression.

I rose an eyebrow in response. "What?"

The grass-type immediately shook his head after hearing my voice and focused his view on the jungle in front of us. "It's nothing... Let's go."

'What's up with him? Did I say something wrong?' I was a little worried while we walked up to the opening that led into the jungle.

**~ BGM: Forest Temple - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Extended)**

After passing the tree-line, everything around us turned black for a second before the scenery around us changed into a room with a grassy floor, walls made up of jungle trees and a ceiling of green jungle leaves.

A strange, yet familiar feeling was crawling over my body. It wasn't good or bad... just strange.

"What is this weird feeling?" I asked, facing the Grovyle next to me.

"It's just your body, noticing that something is wrong with space," my partner explained, looking at an opening to our right.

"I see..." My gaze moved around the room for bit before the grass-type tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the opening to our right.

"Let's get going," he said in a serious tone.

Grovyle led us through the various hallways and rooms that made up the first floor of the Southern Jungle.

When we met one of the wild Pokemon we had talked about before, a Paras, Grovyle immediately extended the leaves on his arms and slashed at the bug-type, splitting the Pokemon in half.

My eyes widened for a moment when the two pieces quickly dissolved into black smoke and faded into the air.

"What are these things made of?" I asked, feeling a little uneasy about how he simply cut the Pokemon down.

"The black smoke is the manifestation of the dungeons will to stop any intruders. The wild Pokemon in here are clones made of that will. Every dungeon has something like a dark spirit that observes everything that's going on inside." Grovyle retracted his leaves and faced me again. "It's not sentient though... Just something like an instinct that tells the spirit to attack all intruders."

"Right..."

We continued to make our way through the dungeon until we came across a staircase. Upon touching it, everything turned black for a second and the room around us changed.

The next floor was cleared pretty much the same way. Grovyle was surprisingly good at leading us around any obstacles the dungeon threw at us. We didn't even have to fight a single Pokemon.

Floor three gave us, or more specifically me, a bit of trouble.

I managed to step onto a Spin Trap, which caused the floor underneath me to rotate, causing myself to get dizzy and confused.

"Ugh... Grovyle?" I called at the spinning image of the room as I stumbled through it.

"Wait, Riley!" Grovyle's voice replied before I suddenly bumped into something green.

A strange warmth was flowing into my body while something touched my shoulders and the dizziness slowly faded away.

"Calm down, I've got you," he continued, making me realize what the green blur in front of me was.

My face literally felt as if it was on fire when my vision cleared up and I had Grovyle's chest right in front of me. The grass-type had put his claws onto my shoulders and pulled me close to him.

"U-uhm... I'm fine now, thanks," I said, not daring to move an inch as he would have noticed the furious blush on my face.

My partner let go of me and turned around, already heading for an opening that led out of the room.

In the meantime, a nervous smile could be seen on my face while my blush died down and I was having a slight mental breakdown. I didn't want to admit it but I actually wished that he wouldn't just have pulled me close but fully embraced me. 'Okay... No need to panic... I'm only feeling flustered because I'm still confused by that Spin Trap.'

I knew that I was denying my own feelings but I couldn't afford to think further about it as Grovyle had almost left the room. "W-wait up, Grovyle!"

The following floors were cleared pretty much like the ones before. Occasional wild Pokemon were quickly dealt with by Grovyle and most of the time we only had to go through a few rooms to find the stairs to the next floor. It seemed as if Grovyle had some sort of sixth sense for finding them... The grass-type had a surprisingly good awareness of his surroundings.

We were almost through the dungeon when we came across a difficult floor with a rather complicated layout. One dead-end after another and a lot of the dungeons illusions were giving us a hard time. After exploring pretty much every room and hallway, we only had one route left. It was an opening in the first room which Grovyle had advised to stay away from but as we didn't have any other place left to explore, my partner and I had to go into the dreaded passageway.

After walking through a short corridor, we met the sight of a medium-sized room that had a staircase at the other end.

"Hey, look! There are the stairs," I said with a smile while we approached them.

However, my smile was immediately replaced by a shocked expression when the room suddenly filled itself with black smoke. It condensed into several Pokemon, leaving us with a room that was full of Paras, Shroomish, Oddish and a Vileplume which's eyes were glowing in an ominous red.

"A Monsterhouse, dammit... It's exactly like it was in the future." Grovyle grit his teeth and extended the leaves on his arms before he faced me with a dead-serious look. "Riley, I'm going to handle this. Get back into the hallway and wait until I've cleared the room."

I shook my head and got into my battle-stance. "What did I tell you earlier? I've got your back."

"Riley!" The look in his eyes told me that he really didn't want me to get involved in this fight.

Letting out a low growl, I hesitantly lowered my guard and walked back into the hallway from which we had entered the room. 'Why won't he let me help him? I couldn't fight a single Pokemon in this dungeon... Does he still think I can't fight on my own?'

My partner began to slay the many grass-type illusion with quick dashes behind them to get into their blind-spots and slashes that cut the Pokemon in half.

I was observing the fight for a moment, admiring my partners speed and skill, when I suddenly heard something hiss from behind me.

**~ Switch music: Fighting till the end - Bravely Default (Extended)**

A cloud of black smoke had formed in the corridor, a pair of red glowing eyes glaring at me from inside. It slowly shaped into the form of a big mantis-like bug with sharp blades as arms. I tensed up and got into my battle-stance while I recognized the creature as a Scyther.

Any normal person probably would have felt at least a little uneasy about fighting a creature with blades as arms. Not me though... A strange feeling of excitement was welling up inside me as I narrowed my eyes on the bug-type. Finally I had another real battle after the fight with the Electrike tribe a few days ago.

The Scyther slowly walked closer, keeping up the glare with its red eyes.

'Alright... I'm facing a bug and flying-type... Considering that my Bone Rush is a ground-type move, my bones won't deal any considerable damage. But I can use them to block its blades to counter with hand-to-hand combat.' I created my bones and got into the battle stance Grovyle taught me. 'I still have that Cross Slash technique to break its guard... If I managed to pull off the follow-up punch afterwards I have the opening I need to beat this thing.'

My new opponent dashed forward, preparing its blades to be thrown at me.

I did the same in response, keeping a close look at the Pokemon to anticipate whatever move it might use.

Right in front of me, the Scyther raised its right arm above it and slashed down at me. I dodged with a quick side-step and launched my left bone forward. However, my swipe was blocked as the Pokemon used the momentum of its first attack and spun its body around to parry my bone with its right blade.

My whole body was thrown to my right as the weapon had a lot more power behind it as expected. I dug my feet into the ground to regain my balance and raised my guard again. Before I could even curse at how strong this thing was, it suddenly began to radiate a lot of energy. Familiar white streams of aura came off the grass-type while it let out a roar.

My eyes widened when the Pokemon ran at me with an immense amount of speed. I could only jump out of the way with a dive-roll while the Scyther threw its blades at the spot I had been standing on.

Back on my feet, I gave the bug-type a look of disbelief. 'It's able to use Quickattack?! How am I supposed to beat this thing? It's stronger and faster than me. All I have are my ineffective bones and a technique that leaves me wide open after using it... Ugh... But I have to try it!'

The Scyther dashed at me with another Quickattack and prepared itself for the next attack. I barely evaded the deadly blade with a back-step. 'Who am I kidding!? Before I even prepare that Cross Slash, this thing has already cut me down! I've got nothing!'

Another attack flew into my direction, this time actually managing to graze my right cheek. The band-aid on my face was ripped off and a bit of blue fur and blood flew into the air. 'Ngh! Now I know why Grovyle didn't want me to fight any Pokemon in this dungeon! I don't have the speed to fight like him and no moves that would give me more options in a battle. I'm at a huge disadvantage against any Pokemon that's faster than me.'

The bug-types next attack was an inward cross slash with both of its blades. As I was already getting exhausted from all the dodging, the only thing I could do was to bring up my bones to block both of the Scyther's arms.

I managed to stop the incoming attack but was locked into a situation where I was trapped between two deadly weapons, struggling to push the blades that still touched my bones away from me. "Ugh, fuck... Give me a break you damn thing."

The feral Pokemon suddenly shot its head forward and bit into my left shoulder. I let out a scream of pain when my blood poured out of the new wound and began to run down my arm. Keeping the blades to my left and right away from me got even harder with the sharp teeth that were now embedded in my flesh.

My opponent pushed me back, causing me to fall onto my back and my bones to disappear while the Scyther's blades dug into the ground next to my shoulders. It bit down even harder, increasing the screams of pain that left my mouth. "Aaagh! Get off me! You're biting my damn arm off! Nnh..."

The adrenaline that rushed through my body from the fight and the intense pain from my shoulder did its work while I used my legs to push the bug-type off me. "Aagh!" Another scream of pain escaped my lips when the Scyther's teeth were pulled out of my shoulder.

My opponent kept its balance in the air with its wings and landed on its feet. I got back up, clutching my bleeding shoulder with my right paw. 'Fuck, this hurts...'

The Scyther began to radiate more aura streams, already preparing for the next assault.

"Riley!" A scream from Grovyle entered my ears. I moved my view at the room on the other end of the corridor for a second. My partner was trying to get past the Vileplume that stopped him from joining my side.

When I focused back onto my opponent, my eyes widened. The Scyther had already started to dash at me, blades ready to rip me apart. The distance between us was too small to properly jump out of harm's way. I knew that its next attack could potentially kill me but for some reason I wasn't feeling any fear.

There was one way to win this battle. Using Quickattack myself.

I quickly focused on the blue flame of energy inside of me, spreading it across my whole body. 'I have to be faster than this thing! Even faster than Quickattack!'

As I moved my first muscles to dodge the incoming attack, a sudden jolt of pain rushed through my head, causing my eyes to shut tight.

Visions of a memory surfaced from my mind.

_Something like a training ground entered my vision. I was in a flat area with a lot of open space around me. A blurry figure came into my view and dashed at me with immense speed. My body moved on its own when the figure began to attack me with lighting fast attacks. While I dodged, a strange feeling entered my body... Similar to when I tried to use Quickattack._

_'Faster... Faster than Quickattack...'_

_As those thoughts flew through my mind, time around me seemed to slow down all of a sudden and moving out of my unknown opponent's way became a lot easier as it almost looked like it was frozen in time. A black paw shot forward, aiming for the figure's face. The vision abruptly ended when the fist made contact._

Back in reality, when I opened my eyes again, the Scyther suddenly slowed down while the focus on the aura in my body reached its peak. I didn't have any time to think about what I had just seen as I had more important things at hand.

Narrowing my eyes on the incoming blade, I quickly dashed underneath it and behind the bug-type. A smirk spread across my face when I saw that the Pokemon was still moving in slowmotion and that its back was completely exposed to any attack I might throw at it.

I jumped into the air and threw a kick at the side of the Scyther's head, spinning the Pokemon around. When I landed on the ground again, I readied myself to launch my next attack at the now dazed mantis. A series of punches, which's pace increased with every dealt blow, flew into the bug-types exposed body, pushing the Pokemon further and further towards the wall behind it.

After one final hit, that threw the Pokemon into the tree-made wall, I quickly created my bones and jumped at my opponent, crossing my weapons above my head.

Although my shoulder was bombarding my brain with signals of pain, I grit my teeth and launched a fully powered cross-slash at the Scizor's chest, causing the Pokemon to dissolve into a cloud of black smoke and my bones into blue and silver particles of aura after they went through the bug-type's body.

**~ Stop music**

The attack left me out of balance and made my body lean forward, ultimately leading to rather hard impact on the ground. "Aaagh!"

I slowly pushed myself up and sat onto the floor, left eye closed and panting hard. A smile wandered onto my face. 'I did it... I beat it...' Although I could've died only a couple of seconds ago, I couldn't help myself but to laugh out loud. "Hahaha!" The excitement of the fight and the challenge of a stronger opponent and yet still somehow pulling it off to beat them, gave me an unbelievable feeling of happiness and... nostalgia for some reason.

But why did I manage to defeat the bug-type? I had somehow used Quickattack, however, I couldn't recall what had led to my sudden ability to use it... I knew that I had a headache and some sort of vision, but everything I had seen was just a blur now.

"Riley!" Grovyle called again.

I moved my gaze back at the room at the end of the hallway. My partner was running up to me with a stressed expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, suddenly a little confused by the bright smile I was giving him. "Wha...? How can you laugh after something like this?"

"I don't know... I just felt like it," I answered, getting back onto my feet. My shoulder stung pretty badly due to the movement but I kept up my smile.

"Let's talk about this later... We have to take care of your shoulder and get out of this dungeon," he said, putting his backpack onto the floor between us. The grass-type quickly pulled out an Oran Berry and handed it to me.

While I swallowed the fruit whole and the pain faded, he pulled out a tissue and another blue berry. He then squeezed some of the berry's juice onto the small piece of cloth and began to clean the wound and all the blood that had run down my arm.

His touch and the fact that he was pretty close to me made me feel kind of weird. I felt a little heat in my cheeks, however, before an actual blush could've formed on my face, he finished his work and suddenly moved his left claw onto my chest to check for any other injuries.

Memories of the human physique returned to me and I remembered that the exact spot he was touching me was the spot where-

Now I remembered what was missing when I looked at my reflection a few days ago.

What was now on my face couldn't be described as a blush anymore... Although I didn't have anything that could be described as breasts with this Riolu body, the knowledge that I had them as a human was enough to make me feel uncomfortable. I could feel my legs get shaky because all of my blood rushed into my cheeks. "U-uhm..."

I normally would have slapped anyone that groped me like that, however, the feeling I was getting with Grovyle was not anger. Just plain embarrassment and... something else. It was probably due to the amount of blood in my head that I couldn't exactly say what it was.

Grovyle noticed my completely red face and his look turned a little confused. He was just about to speak up when his gaze moved down to his claw and he realized what he was doing.

A blush and a nervous smile crept onto his face while he removed his hand and backed away a bit. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to touch you like that..." He broke eye-contact and rubbed the back of his head. "I forgot that you're still human on the inside for a moment."

I was too embarrassed to respond. My whole body felt like it was frozen as I was just trying to get over the fact that I had realized what the second feeling was and that it was something quite shocking...

Arousal.

'Oh, my god... I... I think I actually would've liked him to-'

When a scene where I jumped at the grass-type, brought him down to the ground and pressed my lips onto his flew through my mind, I let out a low cry of distress and shook my head violently to push away the thoughts.

"R-Riley?" my partner asked, a little startled by my weird behavior.

I faced him with an angry look. 'Why do you have to make feel so weird all the time?'

Closing my eyes and letting my head fall down, I stretched my arms towards the ground. "I-Idiot!" (A/N: Replace with "B-baka!" if you're into anime.)

Ignoring all of his "Sorry!" and "Wait!" calls, I immediately walked past him and headed into the room with the stairs. 'Ugh! I can't even be mad at him! That idiot! Making me flustered and embarrassed all the time.'

I stopped right in front of the staircase and folded my arms, waiting for the grass-type to catch up to me and my blush to die down. 'Don't think about it... Just ignore it and focus on the mission.'

"Listen... I'm really sorry. Please forgive me," Grovyle said as he walked next to me with an expression that had a hint of relief in it for some reason. "I'll make it up to you with some extra training after we get the first Time Gear, okay?"

'Extra training? That's what he wants to buy me with?!' I was a little angry at his simple offer at first but as soon as I actually thought about it, I couldn't help myself but to accept.

Letting out a sigh, I faced him again. "Promise?"

"Promise," he replied with a smile. "Come on, let's get out of here."

After I nodded and unfolded my arms, we approached the stairs in front of us and touched them. Everything turned black for a second before the scenery of a jungle revealed itself to me. The light orange sunlight that was shining through the treetops indicated that it was getting noon. 'We made it through the dungeon... Whew...'

"Boulder Quarry should be somewhere around the center of the jungle. It's probably going to take us an hour to get there." Grovyle headed towards an opening in the tree-line in front of us.

"Okay..." My head was lowered while I followed him. 'Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it...' It turned out to be quite the struggle to push the memory of my rather inappropriate fantasy away.

After a while, when I was gazing into the treetops above me, Grovyle suddenly pulled me into one of the bushes that grew on the side of the path we were walking on. We found ourselves in the same position as the last time, surrounded by leaves and Grovyle holding down my head with his claw.

A low growl left my lips. "What now? Some other Pokemon again?"

The grass-type nodded. "Yes... It's alone and is wearing a pretty big backpack. It might be a travelling merchant, coming back from collecting some goods."

"Should we talk with it?" I asked, trying to spot the creature through the leaves that obstructed my vision.

My partner quickly put his backpack on the ground and pulled out a little satchel. "Yes. I want you to buy a map if it really is a merchant." He opened the small leather sack, revealing that it was filled with golden coins that had a "P" engraved onto them.

'Oh, I remember... The money of this world is called Poke.' I inspected them for a moment before a somewhat worried look wandered onto my face. "What if it isn't a merchant?"

"Then you just ask for directions. Having a bit of money with you while exploring isn't a crime." Grovyle closed it again and handed the satchel over to me. "Just say that you were trying to explore the jungle and got lost."

"You're not going to knock it out if it's an explorer, are you?" I gave my partner a stern look.

He sighed. "Listen, we really need a map so we can find our way to the next Time Gears faster. I can't promise anything to you but I'll listen to you from this bush and decide depending on how things go."

I wasn't fully satisfied with this but seeing that the Pokemon was almost passing us, I sighed myself and faced the path again. "Alright... Buy a map if it's a merchant. Ask for directions if it's not. Got it." I hesitantly began to push the leaves that hindered me from stepping out of the bush aside.

When I placed my foot on the path again and turned towards the Pokemon's direction, I met the sight of a startled, green, bipedal chameleon. A red zigzag-shaped line ran around the creature's belly and it had two zigzag-shaped, yellow extensions on the side of its head. I recognized the Pokemon as a Kecleon for some reason.

"Oi, who are you? Don't just jump out of a bush like that!" it yelled with a male voice, raising its guard.

I took a moment to give the Pokemon a closer look as it was the first other real person I had met besides Grovyle.

"Oh, uhm... Sorry for that... I was trying to explore this jungle and kinda got lost. I immediately ran to this path when I noticed you from inside that forest behind me." I explained, already feeling a bit uneasy.

He seemed to let my words go through his head and put his guard down. "Oh, I see..."

"Uhm... Are you some kind of merchant? That bag of your's looks pretty big," I continued, glancing at the huge backpack behind him.

"Yes, I am. Do you want to look at my wares?" the normal-type asked with a strange glint in his eyes.

A smile wandered onto my face. "Actually, yes. Do you have a map-"

Before I could even finish my question, the Kecleon threw his backpack onto the ground, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. In a matter of seconds, a small red carpet was unrolled between us and several goods were placed on it.

**~ BGM: Theme of Junes - Persona 4 (Extended)**

"Hello, and welcome to the travelling branch of Kecleon's Shop. How may I be of service?" he said in a tone that suggested that he had practiced that line a lot of times before.

...

I sweatdropped. "Uuh... Do you have a map?"

"Well, of course I do. We currently have a special offer for an Explorer Starter-Kit, which includes one Explorer Bag, one Wondermap, a scarf of your choice and a bottle of Protein for only 5000 Poke! If you have a membership-card, you can buy two of those kits for the price of one!" the green Kecleon explained, an intrusive smile plastered onto his face.

"Uhm..." A nervous smile joined my sweatdrop. All I wanted was a simple map and now this guy was throwing random offers into my face. Sure, the items he described sounded nice and all but I didn't need any of them other than the map.

He pulled out a piece of paper seemingly out of nowhere. "Oh! If you don't have a membership-card yet, you can sign up right now. I have the registration letter right here if you want to enter the Kecleon's Shop premium club. For the low price of only 50 Poke a month, you can get many special offers like the one I mentioned before! You also get a-" I stopped the normal-type before he could speak any further.

"W-wait a second! I don't want to enter some kind of club, I just want to buy a map so I can get out of this jungle!" I exclaimed, shaking my arms in front of me.

For a split second, I could've sworn that he was glaring at me. He immediately turned around again to pull out two new items. "In that case I can offer you two kinds of Wonder Maps. We have the standard version for 1000 Poke and a rare collector's edition map which is drawn on special paper and comes with its own casing for only 4500 Poke!"

I looked at the two maps in front of me. In his left hand was an enrolled piece of paper, tied together with a red string. In his right one was a cylindrical, black leather case with golden decorations on it. "Uhm... I just want to buy a normal map..."

There it was again, the split-second glare... "Okay then, one Wonder Map." The Kecleon put away the expensive map and placed the normal Wonder Map on the carpet in front of him. "That will be 1000 Poke, please!"

"Is this enough?" I gave him the little bag in my paw and the Pokemon began to count the money.

He handed the satchel back to me and faced me with an annoyed look when he was finished. "That's only 700... If you had a membership-card I could give you the monthly discount. You can lower the price for one buy by 50% once per month with our premium club membership."

A bit of sweat was forming on my forehead. "Can I buy this map if I sign up for a membership?"

The merchant shook his head. "Sadly not... You'd first have to pay your first monthly fee and wait a month until you can use any of our special premium club services."

"Ugh... Please! I really want to get home and I won't be able to without a map! Can't you make an exception?" I asked, trying to sound as desperate as possible... Well, I was desperate for real but the chance to actually get him to give me a discount was bigger if I exaggerated a little.

His expression turned blank. "I'm sorry, but that would be against company regulations," the Kecleon explained monotonely.

'Ugh... Dammit! From where am I supposed to get 300 Poke? I can't run back to Grovyle... If I suddenly ran into the forest and came out with money, then this guy would want to know where I got it from. Maybe I can sell some of the stuff I have with me.' I reached down to the pouch on my right upper leg. "Can I give you some Oran Berries to make up for the missing 300 Poke then?"

"That depends on how many you have. Due to company regulations I'm only allowed to buy wares for half of the price we'd sell them, meaning that I can only give you 25 Poke for each berry," the merchant answered.

My paw stopped right before I could open it. "Ugh... I only have three of them... And Rawst and Pecha Berries? How much would I get for those?"

"25 Poke..." he replied.

"That would be... Hmm... 175 Poke... How about a Luminous Orb? How much could you give me for one of those?" I asked.

A somewhat thoughtful expression wandered onto the Kecleon's face. "Depending on its quality, around 100 Poke... If it has scratches and other marks, it's harder for me to sell it."

I quickly pulled out my Luminous Orb and handed it to the normal-type. After inspecting the item for a moment he looked at me with a disappointed look. "Hmm... It's pretty worn. I'm sorry but I can only give you 50 Poke for it."

I grit my teeth while he handed the orb back to me. "75 are still missing... Dammit..."

His gaze moved down to the pouch on my right leg. "If you give me that pouch with all of the other things, I could give you 300 Poke. "

'Sell Grovyle's pouch? But it was a present... Selling it doesn't feel right... I shouldn't sell any of the items he gave me... Ugh...'

Shaking my head and putting my orb back into my pouch, I gave the Kecleon a sad look. "No... I'm sorry, but that pouch was a present from a friend..."

"So you can't afford the map..." he responded, already turning back to his backpack.

"W-wait! How about we have a little spar then? If you win, you get the 700 Poke and if I win, you give me the discount," I offered with a somewhat distressed voice.

"Err... No." He simply raised an eyebrow to this before he muttered something to himself. "Crazy fighting-types..."

'God dammit, there has to be something I can do! If I don't persuade him now, then Grovyle will most likely knock him out and just take the map. What else could I try?' The somewhat desperate situation brought up a feeling of familiarity and an idea suddenly surfaced from my mind.

As if I was acting on instinct, I leaned towards the packing normal-type and got his attention again.

"I think I know another way to come up for those 300 Poke..." I started, putting my right paw onto my hip while a seductive smirk wandered onto my face. "How about a kiss?" I offered, winking at the Kecleon.

Something strange happened doing so... A pink heart formed in front of me and flew into his face, shattering into several smaller hearts upon impact.

The Kecloen turned red all of a sudden and his gaze locked onto me. Strange mumbling of the words "Wow" and "Beautiful" joined his already weird behavior, creeping me out a bit. 'Uuh... What?'

"Uhm, hello?" I asked, getting back into a casual posture.

"Beautiful..." The normal-type only responded with more mumbling.

'What did I just do to that guy?... God this is weird...' Although I was very confused about what I had done to him, I had to take advantage of the situation.

"Uhm... Hey, Kecleon. Would you be so kind and give me that map in your hand?" I asked, winking at him again.

He stretched the arm with the map in it out to me and continued his mumbling. "Those hips..."

As I took the enrolled piece of paper out of his hand, I was debating on just running off but I quickly shook my head and placed the small bag of money in my left paw into his claw. "Uhm... Nice having business with you."

**~ Stop music**

I didn't want to risk that the effect of whatever I had done to him suddenly wore off and that the Kecleon would think clear again so I quickly turned around and dashed into the bush where Grovyle was waiting for me.

"Come on, I don't know how long he's going to stay this way!" I yelled as I ran through the leaves, noticing a somewhat shocked expression on my partner's face.

"Y-yeah!" the grass-type replied in a strange tone, following me into the jungle behind the bushes.

We ran for a while before we stopped at a small clearing and caught our breaths.

"Whew... I did it..." I said, still panting from our sprint.

"Yeah, you did," Grovyle replied, already seeming to be completely rested again.

"Here." I handed the map over to my partner, who grabbed it and put it into his backpack.

"By the way, do you have any idea what I did to this guy?" I asked, replaying the scene in my head.

The grass-type turned nervous for some reason. "Ehm... I do, but let's talk about it after we set up our camp at Boulder Quarry. I'll explain what you did back in the dungeon too."

"Oh... Okay." A confused look wandered onto my face while my partner headed into the jungle again. 'What's with him all of a sudden?'

It took us probably an hour of walking until we met the sight of a rather large clearing, more jungle trees and bushes growing at its border. The grassy floor from before had turned into a rock-littered path that lead into a cave-like structure at the other side of the rocky surface before us. The whole area had gained a light orange glow from the setting suns's dimmed down light.

**~ BGM: "Shh... Easy now, girl. I won't hurt you." - Fire Emblem Awakening (Extended)**

Grovyle put his backpack onto the ground and began to gather some firewood after we walked up to the center of the clearing.

I helped him by looking for something to eat in the meantime and wandered around the edges of our camp to search for one of the bushes with the berries that we usually ate. I sadly didn't have any success with that, however, I luckily found something else.

Another apple-tree. After picking some of the red fruit off the floor and carrying them back to our camp, I threw one of them at my partner, who had already lit a fire and sat down besides it.

"Thanks, Riley." He caught it and waited for me to sit down next to him. Just when I was about to dig into the small pile of apples that I took with me, the grass-type cleared his throat to get my attention.

"Alright, let's talk about what happened when you fought that Scyther in the dungeon and when you talked with that Kecleon," he said in serious tone. "During your fight you used a move called Extremespeed."

"Extremespeed?" The name sounded strangely familiar and brought a curious expression onto my face.

My partner nodded. "Yes. It's a move that drastically increases the user's speed. It's like an upgraded version of Quickattack. You see, when you use Quickattack, you focus your body's energy around your whole body to speed up your movements. However, some of that energy is lost upon doing so and becomes visible as white streams of aura. Extremespeed is like the mastery of using your energy to increase your speed. Nothing of the used energy is lost, drastically increasing the speed-enhancing effect. What's a little strange about you using it though, is that the move takes perfect control over your body's energy to pull off."

After processing all this new information I responded with a surprised and somewhat excited look. "So I have perfect control over my aura?"

"Apparently, you do. It must be your messed up Riolu instincts again." His face turned even more serious than it already was. "There's another thing... Do you remember the Lucario from the future I told you about? He was able to use Extremespeed too but he mentioned that using it for even only a short amount of time burned through almost half of his whole aura reserves."

"Really? Hmm... I guess that's why I've been so exhausted after fighting that Scyther," I responded.

"You should be careful with that move... Running out of aura can be very dangerous," he advised in a worried tone.

I quickly chomped down an apple and spoke up again after the final gulp. "Yeah... I'll be careful. Using that move was pretty awesome though. Everything looked as if it was in slow-motion!"

"Everything seemed to be in slow-motion? Hmm... For me you just moved at an insne amount of speed. I could only follow half the moves you made to knock out that Scyther," Grovyle commented, taking the first bite of his meal.

Another apple. *munch* "Well... After I dodged the Scyther's blade, I kicked its head to stun it and hit it with several rapid punches." *munch*

"Several rapid punches, huh?" My partner folded his arms. "Although I didn't see much of it, it didn't look like Comet Punch... Comet Punch only uses one fist and the pace of the punches stays the same. You used both fists and increased the pace with every punch... Hmm... I think there's a technique called Beatdown that is executed like this."

I gulped down and gave him a thoughtful look as the name sounded familar. "Beatdown... Hmm... The name fits." Throwing the apple's core into our firepit, I grabbed another red fruit. "And the thing with the Kecleon?"

The grass-type froze up for a second before he faced me again, an embarrassed look appearing on his face for some reason. "Ehm... That was a move called Attract. I don't know exactly how it works but the user can infatuate their target with it, leaving them completely helpless to attacks."

I turned a little red. "I wasn't really trying to infatuate him... I just wanted to bribe him with a kiss to get a discount for the map."

"It must've been your Riolu instincts yet again..." A hint of nervousness joined his embarrassed look. "I never thought that _you_ would be able to use a move like that..."

The way he said that was a little strange... 'I never thought that you would be able to use a move like that? Wait... Does he think I'm ugly?!'

My left eye twitched. "What's that supposed to mean?" Although I first felt quite offended, at back of my head, a few more thoughts were flying through my mind.

'A... Am I ugly? How the hell am I supposed to know if this Riolu body is attractive or not? I... I have to get Grovyle to tell me without directly asking him somehow.'

He seemed to get even more nervous as a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead. "N-nothing! I'm just saying I find it quite surprising that you gained Attract from your new instincts. Ehm... It can be quite the dangerous move so please inform me if you plan on using it again."

Not buying it... I could already tell that he felt uncomfortable with the idea of being infatuated by me... Now I wanted to know why. An idea formed in my head. I could put up an act where I playfully teased him about it until he told me.

A mischievous smirk appeared on my face while I stared directly into my partner's eyes. "Why? Scared of getting hit?" I questioned, trying not to lose my mischievous mask.

He froze again and seemed to be trying to come up with an answer. "Ehm..."

Before he could speak up again, I leaned towards him and flashed him a grin. "Haha, don't worry. I'll tell you when I plan on using it again. I wouldn't want to _accidentally_ hit my partner with it, would I?"

He just stared at me for a moment until he understood my expression and a shocked look shot onto his face. "R-RILEY, NO!" he yelled, waving his arms in front of him.

My response was an acted angry look. "Then tell me why you don't like the idea of being infatuated by me!"

He turned red in all of a sudden, causing my angry expression to turn into a surprised one. I had never seen him like that before. He looked at the ground and broke eye-contact while he started to play around with the apple in his claws.

After a few seconds of silence, I pushed him again as I really wanted to know what was up with him. "You still owe me for groping me earlier, you know... Now that I think about it... I'm not sure if a little session of extra-training is satisfying enough to really make up for it."

The longest and deepest sigh I had ever heard of him followed and he faced me again, seemingly completely embarrassed by the topic. "Fine..."

Grovyle took a deep breath before he started. "I was kind of happy about you, losing your memories."

"What?" That shocked me a little. 'He was happy that I lost my memory? Why would he say that?'

The tone of nervousness in his voice got more noticable with every word. "Well... There has been... Ehm... You could call it an incident. An incident that I wanted you to forget ever since it happened."

"Why?" I asked, getting rather curious.

He broke eye-contact and sighed again. "It's rather embarrassing..."

"Oooh! That kind of incident... What was it? Go on, tell me." My curiosity turned into excitement while I took a bite from the apple in my paw.

"Ehm... Back in the future, when we first met... I was still a Treeko back then and I made an idiot out of myself." He gulped. "I... I had a crush on you back then..."

I almost chocked on the bits of apple in my mouth before I coughed and gave him a shocked look. "Y-you had what?!"

He turned even more embarrassed and continued to fiddle around with his apple, his gaze locked onto the ground in front of him. "Yes... You were one of the first girls I met and even though you were a completely different species, for some reason I started to have some feelings for you." The grass-type let out a deep sigh. "And when I confessed... You... You just laughed at me and teased me about it for several weeks."

He faced me again with a wry smile. "Heck, even now you must want to laugh at me..."

I could only stare into his black pupils with wide open eyes. 'He... He really had feelings like that for me? And I just laughed at him back then? I...'

I didn't know how to respond while my eyes slowly lost themselves in his again and memories of all the events that made me feel comfortable because of him flew through my mind. Touching his hand, being held like a bride by him, fantasies of kissing him...

I couldn't even do a thing against the blush that formed on my cheeks.

Grovyle seemed to notice my red face and he gave me a somewhat confused look. When he raised a non-existent eyebrow, the look in his eyes changed yet again. It was almost like something flickered up, deep inside of his black pupils.

All that I could feel was... Panic.

"W-well, yeah, sure!" I quickly threw my half-finished apple into our firepit and forced out an acted laugh.

"I mean you and me? Pffft..." I said nervously while I turned away from him and rested myself onto the floor. "I-I think I'll get some sleep now. I'm getting tired and we need to get up early tomorrow... Good night, Grovyle."

"Good night, Riley..." Grovyle replied with a strangely happy tone in his voice.

'UGH! Why did I say that?! I could've told him that- UUUGH!'

**~ Stop music**

Falling asleep that night was probably the hardest thing I had done since Grovyle found me back at Treeshroud Forest. The time until I finally found some rest was filled with mental curses towards myself, Grovyle and all the embarrassing situations he had brought me into and his stupid confession that made things even more complicated.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 3**

* * *

_Shipping overload? _

_Seems like our protagonist has developed a crush for her partner... And more strange memories that are out of place for a human girl that has been a Riolu for only a couple of days... That is if it really have been only a couple of days. *smirks*_

_I hope you liked the fighting-scenes in this chapter._

_Oh! And that shopping scene? It actually took me quite a while to come up with that one..._

* * *

_**Trivia - Section:**_

* * *

_**Extremespeed:**_

_Move - Physical - Normal-Type_

_Drastically increases the user's speed at the cost of a massive amount of their energy. The user's whole body is sped up, making it seem to them as if everything was in slowmotion. Consequent uses quickly lead to exhaustion._

_This move can also be used to strengthen the user's attacks by increasing the speed of punches, kicks, etc._

_**Attract:**_

_Move - Effect - Normal-Type_

_The user winks at their victim, creating a pink, heart-shaped projectile that is sent towards the target. A successful hit leads to a change in the victim's hormone level and perception of their surroundings. This state leaves the victim completely to the user's mercy, leaving them wide open for attacks._

_Depending on the way the move is executed, the projectile can lead to various stages of the influence. Some Pokemon even managed to combine it with other moves, creating unique techniques that added a decreased Attract effect to their attacks._

_This move is only effective on targets that are attracted to the user's gender. In the case of some genderless Pokemon, it depends on whether they see themselves as male or female._

_Ineffective on humans and Pokemon with the ability Oblivious._

* * *

_**Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!**_


	4. Stupid carelessness

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Stupid carelessness  
**

* * *

It sun was just above the horizon when I woke up. I turned around to look at Grovyle. He was still asleep. I got up and walked around our camp a little, trying to properly wake up my body. We were near the entrance of a cave. At the place where our fireplace used to be, now was a pile of ash.

I got back to Grovyle and looked at him for a while. The awkwardness from yesterdays conversation was still bugging me. Just when tried to think further about it, Grovyle opened his eyes. He got up and gave me a confused look.

"Did you watch me while I was sleeping?" he asked. The question made me turn red again.

"No,no,no! I was just waiting for you to wake up!" I yelled, shaking my head so fast that it got blurry.

Grovyle replied by letting out a sigh. He picked up his bag and grabbed a few seeds out of it.

"Here, I don't know what we will come across in there, so those might come in handy." Grovyle said, handing them to me.

"What do they do?" I asked examining them in my paw.

"Those are blast seeds. You can throw them at enemies. They let out a small explosion when they make contact. Or you can crack them open in your mouth. That way it somehow lets you spit fire. Nobody is really sure how that works. I have used one myself before. Even though I'm a grass-type, the fire didn't feel hot in my mouth." the grass-type explained.

I put them into my pouch and walked towards the entrance of the cave. When I turned around to see if Grovyle was coming along, I noticed him looking at my backside.

Looking down at it for a second, I felt rather confused and gave him questioning look while I turned around again. "What are you-"

Before I could even finish my question, his face turned into a shocked one. He then shook his head just like I did moments before. "N-no! I wasn't! I swear!"

'Huh? Why is he flustered like that all of a sudden? He just looked at my-'

My face turned red again and I got angry.

'What is wrong with him all of a sudden?'

"S-sorry! Let's get the Time Gear and forget about this!" He then quickly walked past me, his face bright red and full of embarassment.

'Why would he check me out like that? It's almost like he-' Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I tried to focus again and followed my partner into the cave-entrance.

* * *

The dungeon looked just like any ordinary cave. The only thing worth mentioning was the color of the rocks. They had a little purple in them.

The luminous orb Grovyle had given me earlier turned out to be very useful in this dungeon. I lightened up an area that reached out about five meters around me.

We made progress pretty fast, just like last time. Grovyle really knew how to navigate inside of a dungeon. Again, Grovyle would handle most of our enemies. But this time he let me fight a few of them to improve my moves. He also taught me new moves from his fighting-style. I was able to use Extremespeed now, so I could use most of his techniques. I had a lot of wild pokemon to practice on.

After clearing a whole room of Pokemon I felt exhausted... Extremespeed really drained a lot of energy. I could see my vision turn blurry when Grovyle gave me an Oran berry to eat. I swallowed it whole and felt better immediately. This berry didn't just heal you, no, it also refilled all of your energy.

I thanked him and we continued clearing the dungeon.

When we finally left the dungeon, we walked into another burrow. There were two paths in front of us leading into two other caves.

"Where should we go?" I asked Grovyle, looking at him with a confused face. He smirked.

Grovyle simply stepped forward, heading towards... the wall between the openings.

When I wanted to ask what he was doing, he passed right through the wall. I was shocked.

'Wait, what?!'

I couldn't believe what I had just seen.

"Grovyle?!" I yelled at the wall in front of me. No response... I got close and put my paw out to touch it. I took one step forward. My paw was now sticking into the wall. I took another step, now passing through it completely. On the other side I could see Grovyle smile at me.

"Does that answer your question?" the grass-type said, still smiling. "We are now in Limestone Cavern.".

He was right, the ground and all the walls around us were made out of Limestone. To our left and right were a few springs. Water was flowing out of them, creating small pools of water.

After admiring them we entered the next Mystery Dungeon. At its end would be our first timegear.

* * *

We went on with our usual routine when exploring a dungeon. Grovyle led the way and defeated most of the enemies. I usually watched him, learning more and more about his way to fight. When he let me take care of the wild pokemon, I tried out any new techniques I picked up from him.

We cleared the first section of the dungeon pretty quickly, never coming across any real trouble. I got tired from using Extremespeed too often once though. Grovyle told me that if I worked on controlling my aura better, I would eventually be able to lower the amount of needed energy.

After a while we came into another part of the cave. The strange feeling from being inside a dungeon had faded. It was like a big room. In front of us was another cave entrance.

"Did we make it? Are we through?" I asked Grovyle.

"Sadly, no. This is just a part of the cave, that isn't effected by the dungeon. Its kind of like a stop between two parts of a dungeon. Bigger dungeons usually split into two parts." the grass-type explained. "If you need a little rest, well, now is the time to do so."

"No, I'm good... We can keep going if you want." I replied. I was feeling a little drained from using a little too much aura, but overall I was fine.

"You sure?" he asked. "Well, if you are fine... Okay, let's go then."

And with that we made it into the deeper part of the cavern.

The second part of this dungeon turned out to be much more dangerous. It was crawling with wild Pokemon and had many traps in almost every room.

Grovyle and me proceeded cautiously, not trying to set off any traps. We were really lucky on the first floors. Nobody of us set off any traps. Grovyle was somehow able to locate each one of them. He always had a great awareness of his surroundings.

Our luck ended when we entered another Monsterhouse. The room got filled with black smoke again. It then revealed several clones of pokemon. Grovyle extended his leaves and dashed forward. I followed.

We were using pretty much the same fighting style. Dashing around, getting to the blind spots of our enemies and striking their weak points.

After a few seconds, the entire room was cleared. Grovyle pulled his leaf blades in and I let my bones dissolve in my hands. I walked over to Grovyle holding my hand up, going for a high-five.

Just then everything got worse. I stepped onto a trap. Not any trap, no, a teleportation trap. The last thing saw before everything went bright, was Grovyle smiling at me, raising his hand. After my eyes regained their vision again, I could see that I was now in the room with the stairs leading to the next floor.

I didn't know what I should do. Waiting for him would have been the wisest decision, but I somehow got drawn towards the stairs in front of me. 'I'm going to meet him at the end anyway.' I thought, trying to find an excuse for my stupid decision.

With that, I proceeded to the next floor.

* * *

I was now in a huge room. Stalactites were hanging from the ceiling. In front of me was another opening. 'Wait, I'm outside of the dungeon... That means that the Time Gear has to be behind that opening! Heh, Grovyle is going to be so jealous." I cheered in my head.

I walked into the center of the room. Upon getting closer to the opening, a strange feeling overcame me. Then I noticed something. My right hand. Something on the back of it was faintly glowing. I held my paw up in order to examine the strange glow. At the back on my hand was some sort of symbol. I couldn't make out the shape, though it somehow resembled a gear or something like that. I wasn't able to investigate it any further, because suddenly, I heard a voice.

"Turn back now." It ordered. I couldn't make out the direction which it was coming from.

"Where are you?!" I yelled.

"Turn back now, this cave has nothing of value for you." the voice replied.

"It has! I'm looking for the Time Gear!" I explained.

"I see, so you must be the thief that stole the Time Gear from Threeshroud Forest. Magnezone already informed me about its disappearance. Well, I think you leave me no other choice then. I will protect this place and reclaim the other Time Gear." the voice said.

I was now able to make out the direction it was coming from. It came from...below me?

Under me, a pink liquid starting to solidify. I jumped a few feet away from it. It finished and revealed a pink blob with a line as mouth and two dots as eyes.

A Ditto.

"Wait, you don't understand, I'm collecting the Time Gears to save the world! You see in the future time..." I tried to explain, but I couldn't go any further.

"SHut up!" the Ditto yelled. "I will not get fooled by your lies..."

An unimpressed expression wandered onto the pink Pokemon's face. "Pfft... Sure... The future..."

I now understood what Grovyle meant back then. That Ditto marked me insane, as soon as I started talking about the future.

"I don't think that you will give me the other Time Gear voluntary, right?" it asked. Somewhat unnecessary. Both of us knew that we were just about to fight.

I put my paws together focusing energy into them. This time I overcharged my bones on purpose. Having poured enough energy into my paws, I pulled them outwards, creating a shining bone between them. It was almost pure white, no trace of the usual silver left. When the bone was long enough I broke it in half as usual. I then spun my batons in my hands for a while before getting into my battle stance.

I knew myself that I exaggerate there, but somehow it was fun showing of my skills with them that way.

The Ditto looked kind of impressed (Actually its kind of hard to read body language when you are facing a blob with dots for eyes.),what lifted my mood even further. I was really excited for this battle. I knew that Ditto were able to change into other Pokemon, so I was curious to find out in which form this one would choose to fight me with.

"Ever seen a legendary Pokemon?", the Ditto asked as it started glowing.

'A legendary Pokemon? Is this guy really able to turn into one of those? Oh boy, now I'm getting even more excited!'

A grin formed on my face.

The Ditto started glowing even brighter, when its form started to change. Its whole body was expanding and shifting.

When its transformation was done, the glow faded, revealing a Terrakion in its place.

In front of me now stood a roaring bull-like creature. It stood on all of its four legs and had 2 huge, brown horns on the side of its head. Two other zigzag-shaped horns were sticking out at the top of its head. Its fur was mainly gray, but it had a beige underbelly with stripes on it. It had brown hoofs and on its lower legs were beige stripes that looked like sandals. On its shoulder, two orange plates were sticking out. On its rear, a stubby, grey tail.

That thing was massive. My height went a little under its shoulder plates.

**BGM: Secret Super Training - Pokemon X&amp;Y**

The bull blew steam out of its nose and used its right front leg to dig in the ground.

And then it charged at me. In a matter of seconds, the distance between us reached almost zero. I jumped to the side to avoid the attack. The legendary quickly turned around and dashed at me again, though this time I went for a counter. I jumped over it and threw my right overcharged bone at its back. It roared when the explosion on its back went off. I landed on the floor and created a new bone in my right paw.

The Terrakion changed its strategy. It slammed its front legs into the ground, creating a small shockwave. I thought that it was using Earthquake, so I jumped about one meter into the air, to avoid any damage. To my dismay, I was wrong. The ground under me started to crack and several stone pillar shot out of it. Stone Edge.

They made a direct hit and sent me flying towards the ceiling. As if the pain from the attack wasn't enough, I now had another problem to worry about. Over me were hanging several stalactites, ready to impale me, if didn't do something. I struggled to change my direction in the air. The force from the last attack was just too I strong.

I could see the deadly spikes come closer and closer, when I, luckily, had another memory.

_I was standing near a cliff. Next to me was a bird-like pokemon. Its beak looked something like a mask. It was green, red, and orange at the top of it. It had two red arms with claws at the end of them. Under its arms were green wings. Its upper feet had white feathers on them and its lower feet were yellow with three claw-like toes sticking out of them. A Hawlucha. "Okay, now you try it." I could hear it say. My vision turned towards the edge of the cliff. I started to run towards it and... jumped off. But when I was about to fall, my whole body spun around and created a dense stream of air around it. The stream threw me back above the solid ground. I landed and looked over to the Hawlucha again. It gave me a thumbs up with its claws. Then my vision ended.  
_

Back in the real world I spun my body around, creating a large amount of dense air streams around it. Just when I was about to his the stalactites, my body shot back towards the ground. I landed on my feet and looked back at my now surprised enemy.

'Great, another new move. Better make some use of it.'

I then unleashed a lot of aura around me. I would end this battle now. That Ditto just tried to kill me.

Time around me slowed down, and I dashed around the Terrakion, throwing my charged batons at it. The legendary even struggled to keep me in its sight, while I cycled around it. Whenever the fighting-type tried to hit me with another Stone Edge, I used my new "Air Recovery" move to dodge the stone pillars. I kept up my barrage of attacks until it suddenly let out a roar so powerful, that it created a shockwave around it. The wave made all the smoke and dust around the bull-like pokemon disappear, revealing that it was now covered in several bruises and burns. Bone Rush was a ground-type move, so it was super-effective against the rock/fighting-type.

The shockwave even sent me flying back a little. I landed on my feet and got back into my stance, awaiting its next move. I was panting a little. I had used a lot of aura using Extremespeed for such a long amount of time. I also had created a lot of bones to keep up my attacks, making me feel even more drained.

The Terrakion was also panting. It had one of its eyes closed. I could see that it was in pain.

"I think I kind of underestimated you. You are very strong, considering that you are just a Riolu." it said. "I think I will have to use my newest form to defeat you."

The Terrakion started glowing again. Its form changed again. Though something was different. A lot of dust stirred around the legendary. I could feel a lot of energy coming from it.

When its transformation was complete and the glowing faded, a Lucario stood in its place.

Though something about it was different. It paws and feet were red, and had more spikes than usual sticking out of them. The aura-sensors on the back of its head were much longer and had red on their ends too. Its tail was covered with the same fur on its chest and it had a lot of black markings on its body. It seemed familiar somehow.

Luckily it was still covered in burns and bruises and had its left eye closed.

A lot of dust flew around it, when it was suddenly gone. 'Extremespeed!?' I turned around to see it throw a glowing fist towards my face. It was too fast. I couldn't dodge and its attack made contact, sending me flying. And boy, did it hurt. My batons disappeared as my feet left the ground.

My flight was stopped by crashing into a wall. I could hear a crack when I felt the impact. I landed on my chest, sending another wave of pain through my body. I struggled to get up, but I managed to raise my head after a little while. My vision was blurry, and my whole body was in pain. What hurt the most was my back. Maybe the impact had broken something.

I looked to the center of the room. The Lucario was staring at me. Its eye was still closed and it was panting a little more than before. Extremespeed must have used a lot of its aura.

I got up. My legs were shaking. I got into the battle-pose, I used when I was fighting against the Electrike.

"Still want to fight?" the Lucario asked. "Fine! Lets finish this!"

"Less talking, more fighting!" I yelled, concentrating on Extremespeed. Then I dashed forward. I was still in a lot of pain, but I ignored it.

The Lucario did the same. When we were close to each other, both of us sent off a barrage of punches and kicks. None of us was able to hit the other one. Our speeds were even. I dodged each one of his attacks. He did the same with mine. I grit my teeth. I could feel that my energy resources were nearly gone.

I had to change my strategy. I knew that it would probably be me who would run out first. Suddenly I knew, how I could end the battle.

I backstepped, ending our hand to hand fight. I opened my pouch and pulled out the blast seed, Grovyle gave me earlier. I put it into my mouth and bit down on it. I could feel the flames inside of my mouth, but they really weren't hot.

My enemy grit its teeth when it realized what I was about to do.

I opened my mouth and let the fire escape it. A huge fireball engulfed the Lucario. It let out a scream when the heat from the flames touched its skin. The steel-type was weak to fire based attacks.

When the fire disappeared, I could see that the Lucario had changed back into a Ditto that was covered in even more burns now. It was clinging onto conciousness. The Ditto wouldn't be able move for the next couple of hours.

**Stop music**

I had won. I wanted to throw my arms into the air, but my body wouldn't let me.

I was completely drained. My whole body hurt and my vision was blurry. I opened my pouch to look for an Oran berry. I wasn't able to find one...

I decided to head towards the opening. I had to get the Time Gear. Grovyle would come out of the dungeon any second anyway. I was sure of that.

When I made my first step towards it, I could feel something grab onto my left leg.

The Ditto was sticking onto it. It gave me the most menacing look it could make with its simple face.

"I can't... let you... take it." It panted. Something came out of its body. A blue orb.

"What are you doing?" I asked anxiously.

The blue orb started to glow and a bright light engulfed me. The last thing I saw before everything went white, was Grovyle coming out of the Mystery Dungeon, his face full of shock.

And then, I felt like I was floating... Everything around me started to spin around and I felt dizzy. My head started to hurt and I could feel my conciousness fading.

Then everything went black.

* * *

**End of Chapter 4  
**


	5. Riley and Ozu

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Riley and Ozu  
**

* * *

As I slowly regained conciousness, the first thing I felt was pain.

The adrenalin from the fight really must have dulled my senses. Trying to move turned out to be very painful. The left side of my back hurt like hell. I assumed that one of my ribs must be broken or cracked.

I was, luckily, laying on my right side.

My other senses slowly came back to me too. I could feel that something was laying on top of me. Probably a blanket. My head rested on something like a pillow. On my right side I could feel hay or something similar to that.

As I regained my sense of hearing, I could hear muffled sounds all around me. They sounded like voices. 'Are there people around me? Ugh, what happened?'

Those thoughts made me remember the recent events. I still had no idea what that Ditto did to me.

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't bring up the energy to do so.

My hearing returned to its full capabilities, and I was finally able to make out what the voices were saying.

"...cracked rib and several bruises. Her body overall, is very weakened." a female voice said. It had something like a clinging behind it.

"Is there something we can do to help her?" a male one responded. It probably belonged to a thirteen to fourteen year old boy.

"For now, she needs rest. I treated all of her wounds with Oran berry juice and bandages. I can't do much about her rib right now though. We will have to wait until she wakes up. A few Sitrus berries and her bone should be fixed in no time." the female one answered. "But you could go and ask the Kecleon brothers for a few more Oran berries. Our stock on them has run low in the last few days."

"Okay, Chimecho! We will be right back! Come on, Riley, let's go!", the boy said.

"Sure thing!" a new female voice said. It probably belonged to a fourteen year old girl. It was somewhat similar to mine...

'Wait a second! Did the boy just call that girl Riley?!'

I could hear footsteps, running off into the distance.

I tried really hard to open my eyes now. I moved around a bit, sending a wave of pain through my body. 'Ugh, dammit!'

I kept on struggling for a while, but the pain soon sent me back to my place.

I didn't want to sleep, so I was caught in my thoughts for now.

Where was I? Who were those people around me? Why was that girl called Riley? Was it just a coincidence? What did that Ditto do to me? What happened to Grovyle? Did he managed to collect the Time Gear? What about all those weird memory shreds I had?

All those thoughts spun around in my head.

I was getting tired of it. I ignored my desire to stay awake and put my mind at rest.

* * *

When I woke up again, I could hear the voices from before again.

"Its been a day and she still hasn't woken up." the female voice said.

"Can you believe that she just appeared in front of us out of thin air?" the boy asked.

"That was not the best way to come home from a hard mission." the girl chuckled.

"Haha, yes. Carrying her all the way down here wasn't pleasant either. Well, I hope she wakes up soon. I'm very curious about what happened to her. I'm still really exited for our expedition too. I'm so happy that everyone is allowed to come along." the boy responded.

I tried to open my eyes again. This time with success. I went even one step further and lifted myself up, resulting in a lot of pain, though it was bareable this time.

"Hey, she is waking up! Take it easy there Riolu!" the girl said upon noticing.

I was finally able to see my saviors. In front of me were two figures.

To my left stood a yellow mouse. Its brown eyes were inspecting me keenly. It had long, yellow ears stick out from the top of its head. The tips of them were black. I could make out a lightning shaped tail sticking out from its back, though it had a little notch at its ending, making it somewhat resemble a heart. There was a red scarf tied around its neck. It was a female Pikachu.

To my right was an orange monkey. It had silver-colored eyes. Its belly was beige and had a circle symbol on it. Most of its fur was orange. Its hands and feet were beige just like its belly. At the place where its butt should have been was burning a small fire. On its head was a lot of curled up hair. It was a Chimchar.

Though something about him was familiar. He had a pair of desert-goggles on his forehead. Looking at him gave me a strange feeling.

After inspecting them, they suddenly started bombarding me with questions.

"How are you? What is your name? Do you remember what happened to you?" they asked in union.

They were silenced by another figure. I was able to identify it as a Chimecho, explaining the clinging sound when she spoke.

"Will you two shut up?! My patient needs rest!" she yelled at them. They backed away from me immediately.

She flew over to me and inspected me. Her eyes started to glow in a bright blue light and two yellow berries flew out from a nearby bowl.

"Here, eat them. They will take care of your cracked rib and any other internal injuries you might have." she ordered.

I did as told and consumed the two berries. All of a sudden, all my pain was gone. I moved around in my bed. I wanted to see if I still had any pain but there was no one to be found.

"Thank you." I said, giving her a warm smile.

"No problem. Do feel any pain?" she asked. I shook my head.

"That's a good sign! It means that the berries are doing their job. But don't let that make you think that you can go out and run a marathon. Healing a bone takes time!" she explained. "You might still feel some pain if you move in a bad way. Just take it easy for the next couple of days."

"Okay...uhm...where am I?" I asked.

The Chimchar spoke up again. "You are at Wigglytuff Guild! The best exploration guild there is!"

"And where exactly is that?" I still had no idea of my location.

"Its right next to Treasure Town. Haven't you heard from it before?" the Chimchars look turned somewhat shocked.

I shook my head again. Treasure Town didn't ring a bell either. I cursed at myself for not inspecting the map I had bought from the merchant.

"Anyway, where are my manners? I should introduce ourselves before asking any questions. My name is Ozu." the Chimchar said.

"This is Chimecho. She is the cook and the nurse of our guild." Ozu continued, pointing at the psychic-type with his finger.

"And this is Riley. She is my partner. Both of us joined the Guild just recently." he finished, now pointing at the Pikachu to his right.

My eyes fixed onto the Pikachu. She was the other Riley. Why did we have the same name? I needed to learn more about her.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, can you tell us yours?" the fire-type asked.

"My name is..."

Just then I remembered what Grovyle told me a couple of days before.

_If we really have to make contact with somebody from this time, just use a fake name or your species name._

But the thought of lying to people who were so nice to me was just horrible.

"...Riley too. What a coincidence." I answered. 'Sorry, Grovyle.'

All of their faces turned surprised. Though the Pikachu gave me a slightly different look.

"That's... well, yeah! What a coincidence." Riley responded.

"Ehm... Anyway, do you remember what happened to you?" she continued. "You appeared right out of nowhere when we found you. We were just coming back from a mission when you were suddenly laying in front of the stairs leading up to the guild."

'Can I tell them? About Grovyle, the Time Gears and the future? That Ditto thought I was crazy right when I started to talk about it... No, I can't endanger our mission any further. My real name is enough for now. But what should I tell them then? I have amnesia... The only things I know are from Grovyle. My only memories are about travelling with him. Dammit, I kind of want to go with amnesia, but... Wait, I know!'

"I was travelling with a friend and we were exploring a mystery dungeon. Inside we got separated and I went on without him. At the last floor I fought a strange Lucario guarding some kind of treasure. I managed to defeat it, but then it pulled out an orb. The next thing I know is waking up here." I answered. "Everything from before that is just really foggy. Maybe that orb did something to my memories?".

The Chimchar and the Pikachu gave me a strange look.

I let out that my enemy was a Ditto. Maybe it was known among certain Pokemon that a Ditto is guarding the Time Gear at Limestone Cavern.

"Well, that explains a lot. That Lucario must have used an enhanced Warp Orb. Though I don't think that such an Orb is able to effect memories. Maybe he hit your head in the fight?" Chimecho explained.

"So what are you going to do now? Will you look for your friend?" Ozu asked.

"Yes, I plan on doing so... Ehm, where is my bag? Did I still have it when you found me?" I replied, looking around in the room.

"Oh! Yes, its right here" Chimecho said, her eyes starting to glow again.

On the other side of the room was a small table. My pouch was placed on it. It started to glow and slowly floated over to me.

I grabbed it and examined its contents. Almost empty. Only two Pecha berries, one Rawst berry, one Blast seed and my Luminous Orb were left.

I closed it and noticed that the Pikachu was staring at it with an "in deep thought" expression.

I got out of my hay-bed and attached my pouch to my right leg again.

Now that the blanket wasn't covering my body anymore, I could see that it had several bandages all over it.

"Hey, don't put too much stress onto your body!" Chimecho ordered. "Take it easy."

"You should rest a little longer. Our guild is going onto an expedition tomorrow. If you want, Riley and me can help you look for your friend, after we come back from it." Ozu approached me. He had mentioned something about an expedition before.

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I will look for him myself." I replied. The Chimchar gave me a sad look.

"That's too bad...Where did you lose him anyway?" he asked. Another uncomfortable question.

"Well, we were exploring a cave. I don't remember its name though." I lied.

"Where were you before you explored that cave then?" he kept going.

'Ugh, I gotta think of something. I'll just take one of the places I know and hope that it sounds plausible.'

"Before that, we were somewhere around...ehm... Foggy Forest." I answered.

Foggy Forest was the area around Fogbound Lake. I was believable, that we lived somewhere near it.

All of them gave me a surprised look.

"Another coincidence! Our expedition is heading towards Fogbound Lake!" Ozu explained, giving me a smile.

'God dammit.', I started to sweat a bit. I knew where this was going.

'Wait.. Grovyle said that he would head there next. What if those people met him and found out about his plan to steal the Time Gear? Im sure that they would try to stop him... I have to do something... Maybe I should come with them... My next stop would be Fogbound Lake anyway. And that way I wouldn't have to travel alone. I could learn more about that Pikachu too. When we reach the forest I could look for Grovyle and the Time Gear.'

"We can ask Chatot and the Guildmaster if you may accompany us." he offered.

"...Thank you, Ozu! I would love to travel with you." I said, giving him a smile.

"Okay, let's go to Chatot then. Is it okay for her to leave the infirmary?" he asked Chimecho.

"I would advise against her, coming onto the expedition. Her bone is still healing. I know that Riolu are usually tough, but the long journey can be unhealthy for her." the psychic-type explained.

"I can handle it, I've had injuries far worse than that." I replied. I didn't remember anything from before but somehow this statement didn't feel like a lie.

"Oh, you must be really strong then! You also mentioned defeating a Lucario before. I haven't heard of many Riolu that were able to defeat their evolved forms." Ozu commented.

Him calling me strong made me feel happy somehow.

"Thanks!" I replied warmly.

The Chimchar and the Pikachu then led me out of the room.

I was now standing in a huge hall. The walls mostly looked like the ones found inside of a cave, but they had a few bricks implemented into them. A few vertical wooden beams seemed to further support the whole structure.

We were underground, but somehow the room had two windows. Looking outside, revealed that it was almost nighttime. On the other side of the room was another door.

To my right was a hallway. On one of its walls were a few signs. They had weird symbols drawn onto them. 'Footprint runes.' One of them read "Sleeping Quarters".

'Wait a second... How am I able to read this weird Pokemon handwriting? Did Grovyle teach me in the future?' I ignored any further questions and looked around in the room again.

In front of me was a wooden ladders. They reached all the way into a hole in the ceiling. Probably into the next floor.

To my left was another hallway with signs in it. One of them read "Dinning Hall". Next to the hallway was a hole in the ground. A ladder was sticking out of it.

In the middle of the room stood a weird structure. It was made out of stone and resembled a Croagunk. Coincidentally, a Croagunk was standing inside of it. Behind it was some sort of caldron. It noticed me and gave me a soul piercing stare. I jumped a little and faced Ozu and Riley again.

"The Guildmaster's office is right behind this door." Riley explained, pointing at the other door in the room.

We walked right in front of it. The Pikachu then knocked on it a couple of times.

"You may come in!" a parrot-like voice replied.

* * *

We opened the door and entered the office. It was similar to the big hall, but a lot of carpets were decorating the room. In the middle of it stood a big desk.

Inside of the room were two other pokemon.

In front of the desk was a Chatot. It looked similar to a parrot. It head was shaped like a music note.

Behind the desk stood a Wigglytuff. A rabbid-like creature with pink fur and huge turquoise eyes. On its head was a small tuft of hair. Its belly was white.

"Ah, Team Ignition. I see that the Riolu you saved yesterday is well again. What is your request? The guildmaster and I have to work on the division of the expedition members, so make it quick." the Chatot said.

"Well, you see Riley here, was exploring a dungeon with a friend and they got separated. Through a warp orb, she got teleported here. She wants too look for her friend...and...uhm... she thinks that her friend is at Foggy Forest.' Ozu explained timidly.

"Riley? Your name is Riley too?" Chatot gave me a surprised look. "I already told everyone that this is an guildmember-only expedition. As long as she isn't a member of this guild, I'm afraid that I have to say no."

Ozu sunk his head.

Suddenly Riley spoke up. "Hey, what if she joins our team? She would be a guild member then, right?"

Ozu rose his head again. "That's, true!"

"Well, you are right with that, but I think you should ask her first before you get your hopes up." Chatot replied.

"What do you say? Will you join our team? We can go on many adventures together, explore dungeons and find a lot of treasures!" Ozu got excited just by talking about it.

'What will I say? Is that what an exploration team does? Go on adventures? I had my own adventure to go on. Saving the world. If I join them, I will just hurt them when I have to leave them again. But somehow becoming an explorer sounds interesting. I will join them for now, but as soon as I find Grovyle I will leave again. I better not get too familiar with them.'

"I will join their team." I confirmed.

"Fine... Do you agree with this Guildmaster?" Chatot asked the Wigglytuff.

He didn't respond. He was just standing behind his desk and looked into the air.

"Guildmaster?" Chatot asked again. "Guildmaster, can you hear me?"

Suddenly the fairy-type let out a loud yawn.

"Oh! Hello everyone! And who might you be? A new friend? I love new friends!" he said happily. The Chatot sweatdropped.

"Did you sleep with you eyes open again, Guildmaster?! I've spent the last twenty minutes explaining the division setups to you!" the flying-type screeched.

"But Chatot, work is sooo boring. I would rather talk about exploring... Or even better, Perfect Apples!" Wigglytuff replied. He then faced me again.

"Hey you there! New friend! How do you like Perfect Apples?" he asked.

"Uhm... I like them?" I answered.

'What is wrong with this guy? He's supposed to be the master of this guild?'

"O,o,o! Another friend that loves apples! Chatot who is this? I want her in my guild! Everybody who loves perfect apples has to be in my guild!" he faced the Chatot again.

"Uhm, this is Riley the Riolu... I just asked you if you accept her accession to Team Ignition." the parrot pokemon replied.

"Yes of course I do! I want this new friend in my guild immediately!" Wigglytuff yelled at him.

"Okay, Riolu. You are allowed to join us on our expedition, but you have to come back with us afterwards and finish the training with Team Ingnition. If that's all, you may leave now." *Sigh* "I have to go over the divisions with the Guildmaster... again." he said.

'Dammit, I'm bound to this guild now. I'm sure that they will look for me if I simply walk off with Grovyle.'

"New friend, lets talk about apples again sometime!" Wigglytuff said, while we turned around to leave the room.

Ozu, Riley and I walked out of the office.

They then led me into their own room.

"And this is our room!" Ozu said upon entering it. "We don't have a proper bed for you now, but you can have a little hay from our beds."

"Thank you." I replied.

After we finished making a bed for me, all of us sat down on their own bed.

"So, how do like the guild? I know that the guildmaster can be weird sometimes, but he is really strong!" Ozu started a conversation.

"Well, it looks nice... Are you sure that this Wigglytuff is capable of managing this guild?" I replied.

"Well, Chatot does most of the management... Now that you say it, I really have no idea what Wigglytuff does all the time. He mostly sits in his office and plays around with his Perfect apples." Ozu explained, scratching his chin while doing so. "But he is one of the most famous explorers out there! He is said to be as strong as Team Charm or even Team Raiders!"

"And let me guess, those are the strongest explorers out there, right?" I responded.

"If its like that, I would like to have a battle with him sometime." I added.

I blinked. 'Why do I get so excited when I meet a strong Pokemon?'

"Maybe you can ask him after the expedition." Riley suggested. "You seem like a pretty stong fighter yourself. What moves do you know?"

'Should I tell them about my strange abilities? Maybe they know something about it, or know somebody who deos.'

"I can use Bone Rush, Extremespeed, and some kind of Air Recovery move." I explained.

I didn't tell them about Attract. It wasn't a move I would use in a fight anyway. Actually... I didn't remember how I used it in the first place. Did I just have to flirt with somebody and that was it?

They blinked.

"That are some awesome abilities you have there, Riley!" Ozu replied. "But what do you mean with Air Recovery move?"

"Hmm... how should I explain it? I kind of spin around in the air and use my aura to form dense airstreams around me. And then I can somehow use them to hurl myself around." I clarified.

"Hmm... that sounds like Aerial Ace. Chatot knows that attack. You should ask him about it when you get the chance." the Chimchar advised.

"And what moves do you guys have?" I asked.

"Well...uhm... I haven't fought anybody until recently, so Im still a little inexperienced what my electric-moves are capable of... I learned some physical attacks while we explored. Irontail and Quickattack to be precise. Electric-type based... I can use Thunderpunch and Thundershock." Riley answered. "Im kind of able to use Thunderbolt...but I still need to practice before I can use it properly."

"I mostly use flame-manipulating moves. I can cover my whole body with flames and use them to fight. Haven't mastered it though. I can also spit fire out of my mouth. Most times only Ember comes out, but when I blazed a while ago, I could muster up a fully fletched Flamethrower. Oh, and I can use Fury Swipes." Ozu explained. "But I usually don't use that last move. I have Firepunch and Flamewheel as my main physical attacks."

"So would you guys consider yourselves as strong or..." I further asked.

"We can handle ourselves." Riley declared. "Why do you ask?"

I smirked. "I want to fight you sometime too."

"Wait, you mean a real full on fight?" Ozu asked, concern notably visible on his face.

"No,no,no! I mean a fair match between friends!" I explained, giving him a smile.

They looked at each other and then back to me.

"Yea, friends." they said in union, smiling back at me.

'Wait... I just stated that I see them as my friends... Didn't I say earlier that I don't want to get too familiar with? But somehow... they really feel like friends to me... '

"Well, it's getting late and we need to get up early. Tomorrow we go on the expedition!" Ozu said while he laid down onto his bed.

Riley and me did the same.

"Good night, Riley and...Riley. Haha, we gotta think of something. I can see this turn into a problem." he continued.

"Good night" the Pikachu and I said in union.

I closed my eyes and let the recent events go through my mind again.

'Grovyle must be worried sick. I hope that I find him soon. And tomorrow I will go on this expedition... I wonder how its going to be. Maybe completely different from my journey with Grovyle. Ugh, I shouldn't have called those two friends. They will be even more upset when I leave them. Wait... maybe I can gain their trust and they will believe my story about the future. I will debate about that tomorrow...'

I yawned and brought my body into a comfortable sleeping position.

'Yeah. Tomorrow.'

* * *

**End of Chapter 5**


	6. The Expedition

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 6 - The Expedition  
**

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM, IT'S MORNING!"

That were the words that ripped me out of my sleep. My whole body jumped and my eyes shot open. They were blurry and not adjusted to the light, making me blink very often. My ears were ringing and I was overall very disoriented.

The ringing slowly faded and my eyes recovered from the rash exposure to light too.

I was in a small room with one window in it. Under me was a hay-bed.

'Ugh... yea right... the guild...' my mind processed.

I looked around in the room and found two other pokemon inside it. They didn't seem to be disoriented like I was. No, the Pikachu was tying her scarf around her neck and the Chimchar was putting his desert-goggles on his head.

"What the hell was that?" I asked groggily.

The Chimchar blinked.

"That was Loudred. He makes that wake-up call every morning. It's really irritating at the beginning, but you will get used to it." Riley explained. "You better hurry and get up, the briefing for the expedition will start soon!"

I got up and followed them outside.

We walked out of the sleeping quarter-hallway. In front of the guildmasters office stood more than a dozen pokemon. I recognized Chimecho, Croagunk, Chatot and Wigglytuff.

Chimecho and Croagunk were lined up with some Pokemon I haven't seen before. I assumed that they were the other guild members.

There was a Loudred, a Sunflora, a Bidoof, a Diglett, a Dugtrio, and a Corphish.

Near the ladder stood three other pokemon. Just by looking at them, I knew that I wouldn't like them. A Skuntank, a Zubat and a Koffing... I could smell them from across the room... It was gross.

Having a more sensitive nose now, made it even worse. I knew that pokemon had an overall better sense of smelling than humans.

When we left the hallway, everybody's view locked onto me. I could hear a lot of mumbling in the crowd.

Ozu, Riley and me arranged ourselves in the crowd. Being watched by everyone gave me a strange feeling. I wanted to speak up and introduce myself, but Chatot took on the task before me.

"Okay, everyone listen up! Before you disturb our briefing because of our new member, I will introduce her. This is Riley the Riolu. The same Riolu, Ozu and Riley brought in the day before yesterday. You can ask her how she ended up here later. She is going to accompany us on the expedition. She joined Team Ignition just yesterday." Chatot announced. "We can't afford any more distractions, so please be quiet. I will now start the briefing!"

Everybody calmed down and took off their stares on me.

Chatot took a deep breath and continued.

"Well, then. Let me explain about this expedition. First of all... the objective. The exploration of Fogbound Lake. It's a lake that is said to be located far to the east. However its perpetually enshrouded by dense fog. As such, its actual existence has never been confirmed..." the flying-type explained."Its also said that a treasure of exquisite beauty is hidden there."

'The Time Gear...'

"Everyone, open your wondermaps please." Chatot ordered.

Ozu had a little backpack on his back that I never noticed before. He took it off and pulled out an enrolled piece of paper. It looked like the map I had bought from the Keckleon merchant.

The other guild members did the same.

Ozu opened up the map and placed it on the floor. I was finally able to see the world I was in now. Not that I remembered anything about the human world. But I assumed that it must have been completely different from this world.

A huge mass of land and several islands were drawn onto the map. I searched for the Southern Jungle. It wasn't really near the south of the big continent, but more to its west. Looking for treasure town revealed that I was now at the east coast of the continent. The Warp-Orb had teleported me all across the land.

Chatot waited for everyone to open their maps, before he spoke up again.

"If you look for Foggy Forest on your map, you will see that its on the southwest of our continent. Fogbound Lake is said to be somewhere inside it. I will make a comment about Foggy Forest when I finished the announcement of the groups." he continued. "We will travel in groups, in order to keep our mobility as high as possible. Before we start our journey, I will place a marker on everybodies map. That marker shows the location of our base camp. It will be at the foot of the highlands just at the border to Foggy Forest."

"Without further ado, I shall announce the groups now." Chatot said while he closed his wondermap. The guild members did the same. He then pulled out a piece of paper.

"First group! Sunflora, Loudred, Diglett and Croagunk." he continued.

The called pokemon walked close to each other.

"You guys! You'd better NOT hold me back." the Loudred said. Its voice sounded male.

'So this is the guy that wakes up everybody... Must not be good for his popularity.'

"You should talk!" the Sunflora countered. It was female.

"The next group is Dugtrio, Chimecho, Corphish and Bidoof." Chatot carried on.

All of them walked into a group, just like the last ones.

"Were a solid group." the Dugtrio commented. Male.

"I promise to try my best." Chimecho said.

"Hey, hey! Likewise!" the Corphish cheered. Also male.

"I will do my best to keep up!" the Bidoof added. It sounded male too... Still a little young though.

"Erm... Lets see... The guildmaster and I shall travel as a pair... That is acceptable, yes?" the parrot like pokemon went on.

Wigglytuff's expression turned to a sad on. "Awwwww?! I have to go with Chatot?! That's so boooooring!"

The Chatot sweatdropped. "Please don't be difficult. This is a key element to our strategy."

The Wigglytuff kept up his sad look. "... Meanie."

Chatot then faced the three poison-types. "Our guests, Team Skull, should travel independent from us as their own group."

"Understood. Chaw,chaw,chaw." the Skuntank responded. It was male. That laugh at the end didn't raise my liking against it in the slightest.

"And the final group will be Ozu, Riley and... ehm... Riolu." Chatot finished.

We looked at each other. Somehow I knew that we would travel together.

"Lets do our best!" Ozu encouraged us. Riley and me nodded, giving him a smile.

"Okay, Riolu here mentioned that she has been to Foggy Forest before. Would you please come out and give us a little insight of what we can expect there." Chatot said, pointing at me. I jumped a little.

'Dammit... I have no idea what Foggy Forest looks like. He mentioned some highlands near it... Riolu usually live in the mountains... Okay... I know what to say.'

I walked next to Chatot and faced the now curious pokemon. All the eyes were focused on me again. I started to sweat a little.

"Uhm... I actually have never been inside the forest. Just in the highlands next to it. I had a good view onto the forest... but I could only see the border because of the... Fog..." I explained. 'That should be believable.'

They lost their expectant expressions.

"That's too bad... but that's why we do this expedition in the first place. To explore!" Chatot replied.

I walked back to Ozu and Riley.

"Okay, everybody. Bring your wondermaps to me, so I can place the marker on them." the flying-type ordered.

All of the guild members did as told and walked back to their groups when they were finished.

"Everyone, let's get to it and move out!" he finished.

"HURRAY!" everyone cheered. Well, expect for me. Though I found it quite inspiring how everybody got pumped up.

All of the guild members left the guild. Our group was the last one to get going. We climbed up the ladder. I could just catch a glimpse of the room above the on I had seen before. It looked similar, but there were some bulletin-boards. Ozu, Riley and me climbed up the last ladder and were then inside of a tent. Looking at it from the outside, revealed that it resembled a Wigglytuff. In front of it was some sort of hole in the ground. It had a wooden grid above it, in order to prevent any pokemon from falling in. Its function was a mystery to me. We then walked down a stairway. On its end, Ozu stopped me.

"That's where we found you." he said, pointing at the ground.

I thanked them again for saving me and we continued walking. We then came across a crossroad. To our left was a fountain. In front of us was a staircase, leading underground. Next to it was a sign. I was able to read "Spinda's Cafe" on it. I kind of wanted to check it out, but we had an expedition to go on.

We walked to our left and faced the exit of treasure town. Ozu opened our map again and planned our route. After he was done, we left the town.

And so our journey to Fogbound Lake started.

* * *

We walked on the dirt road for a very long time. The two were much more talkative than Grovyle. They told me stories about their previous adventures. But when they talked about how they had met, it got really interesting.

"I had tried to join the guild that day, and like the previous times, I chickened out... So I decided to go to the beach. The view there is always so inspiring and calming... We have to take you there after the expedition! Well, I walked down the beach and found her laying unconscious in the sand. When I approached her she woke up and was really shocked... You must know that... Riley has amnesia." Ozu explained.

"Amnesia?!" I replied loudly. It was almost like a shout. Both of them gave me a strange look.

"Oh, ehm, thats horrible... I kind of know what happened before that orb hit me, but you didn't know anything didn't you?" I tried to lift the awkwardness from my last statement.

"Not exactly... All she remembered was her name and..." he stopped there. He faced the Pikachu. "Should we tell her? She is going to be on our team for a while."

"Uhm...okay." she replied.

"You see Riley here, says that she was a human before waking up on that beach." Ozu continued.

I gasped and my eyes shot open, focusing on the Pikachu.

'What the hell?! Who is she? Is she a spy sent by Dusknoir to lure Grovyle out of hiding? Or... what if she... is the real Riley and I... who am I then?'

...

'No, this can't be. Grovyle identified me as his partner... She must be a spy or, or... Simply a human that stumbled into the pokemon world and coincidentally is called Riley.'

They noticed and got worried.

"Are you ok? What got you so upset all of a sudden?" Ozu asked. I didn't answer... Too many questions were flying around in my head.

'But wait... what about those weird memories shreds? I have been human in one before... But in the others... I think that I was a Pokemon... Does that mean that I am not the Riley from the future? I... I, need to calm down. I have to ask her some questions. That way I can maybe find out who she really is.'

I took a few deep breaths and calmed down.

"Riley? Are you okay?" they asked in union. The Pikachu was somewhat shocked to my reaction.

"Yes it's just... I... Do you remember anything from being a human?" I asked the Pikachu. She shook her head. Her expression was still shocked.

"Why do you ask? Are you scared of humans?" she asked with worry in her voice.

'Dammit! What should I tell them after that scene I just made? Tell them everything? Or just run off and... What if she is a spy? She would run to Dusknoir and tell him about me immediately. No, I need to know more about her. Ugh, come on, think... I know!'

"Uhm... No, its just that... I think me and my friend used to do research on humans. I think that's the reason we went into that cave in the first place. That you claimed to be human just shocked me a little bit. It's too bad you don't know anything. It would have been great for our research." I answered. 'Please buy it.'

Her expression became calm again. Somewhat relieved.

"Oh, I thought you would hate me for it or be scared from me." she said. 'Thank god.'

"But wait, if you researched humans... what can you tell me about them?" Riley asked. 'Does she want to test me too? Heh, I can play that amnesia game too.'

"...I don't remember a lot of it... Everything is really foggy and... I'm sorry." I answered. She gave me a sad look.

Ozu decided to speak up again. "That's too bad, so where was I? Yeah, right. So after she told me she was human, Koffing and Zubat came up behind me, knocked me down and stole my relic fragment. You might have seen them before. Those douches are part of Team Skull."

He then pulled out some sort of stone from his backpack. It had a weird symbol on it. After he showed it to me, he put it back.

"They ran off into a mystery dungeon and I was too scared to go after them. But Riley offered me her help and together we managed to retrieve my personal treasure.", he carried on. "After that we went to the beach again and I asked her if she wanted to form an exploration team with. She said yes and we joined the Wigglytuff Guild on the same evening."

"That's a nice story." I commented.

'I can't just ask that Pikachu about Grovyle, and Dusknoir. If she really is a spy, she would call me out... I will let that topic rest for a while. Hell, all of those question are going to make me insane. I have to distract myself from it. Maybe if I spend some more time with them, I can learn more, without raising any suspicion.'

"I'm kind of fed up on information... Can we keep on walking without any more chatting? I would love to enjoy the view a bit." I tried to finish our conversation.

They gave me a somewhat sad look and nodded.

* * *

We continued our journey and finally arrived at our first destination. A mystery dungeon called Craggy Coast. It was a shortcut if somebody wanted to travel to the east.

I would finally be able to see what my new team members were capable of. Also, I would be able to show them what I could do.

Before we entered, Ozu stopped me. "Are you sure that you are ready to go into a dungeon. You are still covered with bandages. Chimecho told you to take it easy."

I had almost forgotten about them. I was feeling fine. I unwrapped a bandage on my shoulder, and revealed... nothing. I removed the other ones too and saw that all of my wounds had healed. When I wanted to remove the one wrapped around my chest, Riley stopped me.

"At least keep that one. Your rib was cracked. Don't forget that!" she said with concern.

I nodded and we made our preparations for the dungeon. Ozu gave me a few Oran berries. I put them into my pouch.

The Pikachu had a pouch similar to mine. It was somehow attached to back of her hip. When I asked her about it, she told me that she made a knot into her fur in order to connect it with a string on the back of the pouch. Clever.

The Chimchar stocked her up on supplies too.

"I think we should talk about that name thing. I think its best if each of you gets a nickname." Ozu offered.

"Fine, what names do you suggest?" Riley asked.

"Well, Riley is a Riolu... Riley... Riolu... Ri? Ri are the first two letter of Riley and Riolu. Ri would fit." he replied.

I shrugged. "Fine by me."

Ozu then faced the Pikachu.

"And for you... Uhm... Lets just give you the rest of the letters and call you Ley." he continued.

"I don't like it... What kind of name is Ley? Hmm... let's go with Lya! I kind of like that one." Ril... Lya replied.

"Fine, now that that's out of the way, let's do our best in there!" the Chimchar cheered.

With our preparations now complete, we entered the dungeon.

* * *

At first, I wanted to take the lead, but Lya quickly took that job from me.

She was quite skilled in navigating us through the dungeon. But not as good as Grovyle though.

The first few floor went by without any complications. We didn't come across any wild pokemon.

When we finally met them, I let Lya and Ozu take care of our enemies. I wanted to see their fighting-styles.

Ozu mostly used his Ember attack. It wasn't very effective against the many water-types we had to face.

This dungeon was Lya's time to shine. She fried most of the water pokemon with her Thundershock. Sometimes she got close and used Thunderpunch and Irontail.

She didn't really have a proper style. She just used one attack after another.

'I guess she didn't lie about not fighting until recently. Maybe I should train with her sometime... Wait! Ugh, get yourself together. She could be a spy and all of this is just an act.'

We cleared three more floors, when we came across two strong-looking pokemon. A Tyrunt and a Carracosta.

I faced the Tyrunt and let my comrades take care of the other one.

They would finally be able to see what I was capable of.

I created my bones and spun them around a bit.

I then used Extremespeed. From one moment to the next, only stirred up dust could be found at the place I just stood at.

I reappeared right above the rock-type's head and brought my bone down on it. The attack sent its head towards the ground. Upon impact, the Tyrunt turned into black smoke.

After my finished attack, I landed on my feet, let my batons disappear and looked over to my allies. They had a bit of trouble with the water/rock-type.

I decided to help them and used Extremespeed again. I dashed right behind the massive turtle and used an Aerial Ace enhanced kick against the back of its head to knock it out.

My friends were speechless.

"Rile..uhm... Ri... That was unbelievable. How can you be so fast? It looked like you just vanished." Ozu's mouth was wide open.

"That was Extremespeed. I don't know exactly how I use it, but it has something to do with my aura." I explained, giving him a grin.

"Wow, we are really lucky to have someone as strong as you on our team." he continued. My grin turned into a happy smile.

"Thanks!" I replied.

* * *

The rest of the dungeon went on without any further trouble.

When we finally cleared it, we found ourselves at the foot of a mountain.

Ozu made a quick check on the map.

"Okay, now we have to cross this mountain. It's a mystery dungeon an is called Mount Horn." Ozu informed us. "But if we start now, it's probably going to be nighttime. Should we just call it a day?"

"Oh, come on! It's probably going to take five more hours for the sun to set." I refused to stop here.

I was really motivated. Somehow I wanted to be the first one to reach our camp.

"I have to go with Ri there. I'm not tired and.. I would like to be the first group to reach the camp." Lya said in a confident voice.

I blinked.

"Fine, let's get going then." the fire-type replied.

* * *

The next dungeon was much easier to go through. The three of us worked together.

Lya navigated, I mostly fought and Ozu kept us fit and healthy. Everybody had his role. We were becoming a good team. I slowly started to trust them and somehow it felt like that they did the same.

Though I was still a little sceptical when I faced the Pikachu. When we reached the camp, I would have to talk to her...alone.

After clearing the last floor we found ourselves at the other side of the mountain. We were now in the highlands around Foggy Forest. It was late evening. The sun was about to set.

"Does this place bring back any memories?" Lya asked.

'Oh, right! I told them that I had been here before.' I looked around a bit before I answered.

"Nope..." I said with a sad face. She responded with a concerned look.

Ozu opened our map again. "We are nearly there. The camp should be this way." he said, pointing towards the valley.

We covered the rest of the route and finally arrived at the base camp.

To our dismay, we only took the second place.

There was already a tent built up. The tent had the shape of a Wigglytuff. In the middle of the clearing, a fireplace was already set up and a fire was burning in it.

I looked over to Lya for a moment. She looked like she was in deep thought.

We approached the tent.

"Hello?" Ozu called out.

The tent opened. Chatot and Wigglytuff came out of it, greeting us in the process.

Chatot then instructed us to build up our own tent. He and the guildmaster then took place near the fire.

We did as told and after ten minutes, the construction was complete.

Ozu, Lya and I then joined the other two explorers.

"So, how was your journey?" Chatot started the conversation.

"It was great! Thanks to Ri, we had no problems in the dungeons. She is really strong." Ozu replied.

"I'm not that strong, come on." I added, rubbing the back of my head. Everyone gave me a smile.

"Ri? Oh, I see you took care of that name problem. So the Pikachu Riley is still called Riley or did she get a new nickname too?" Chatot continued.

"Its Lya... Whenever Ri and I are together, just call me Lya." the Pikachu replied.

"Okay, Lya. So which route did you choose?" he asked.

"Our first stop was Craggy Coast. After we cleared that dungeon, we crossed Mount Horn." Lya explained.

"Ah, I see... Did anything worth mentioning happen?" he carried on.

"No, our journey went by without any complications." I answered.

"Hey Ri, you can ask Chatot about Aerial Ace now." Ozu mentioned.

"Aerial Ace?" the flying-type asked curiously. "Are you able to use it?"

"Yes... I think. We are not really sure if it's Aerial Ace." I explained. "Wait, I will show you."

I got up and went away from them. When the distance was big enough, I concentrated the air streams around me. I then jumped up. In the air, I made a front-flip and used the air streams to fling myself up even further.

I got a little applause when I landed. My face turned red and I rubbed the back of my head again.

"That was indeed, Aerial Ace. I heard that non flying-types could learn it, but it would take a lot of training." Chatot responded. "Your technique is almost prefect... Who taught you?"

'Who taught me? I think that it was a Hawlucha... But how can I have met one before... Ugh, don't think about it. Just tell them.'

"A Hawlucha." I replied.

Everybody gave me a strange look.

"What is a Hawlucha?" Ozu asked. "Is it some kind of pokemon?"

"Yes, it's a flying and fighting type. But I never heard about one that lives on our continent." Chatot answered.

"Where did you meet it?" the parrot like pokemon faced me again.

"I don't know..." I said with a sad voice. I really didn't.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Chatot was confused now. "Do you have amnesia?"

"Yes, she thinks that the Warp Orb somehow damaged her memories." the Chimchar explained.

Chatot blinked. "That's strange... I never heard of an orb that is able to erase memories."

'I gotta change the topic, I don't want to talk about it right now.'

"Chimecho said that it could have come from the fight before the Lucario used the orb... So when do you think the others will come?" I replied.

"We will see... Its getting late, maybe they wanted to take a stop and rest for the night." the flying-type answered. "I'm actually quite impressed that the newest guild members arrived only shortly after us."

He faced the Wigglytuff. It had a huge snot-bubble coming out of its nose.

Everybody sweatdropped.

"Was he asleep all this time?" Lya asked.

Chatot sighed. "He is probably tired from the trip. He was so excited for the expedition, that he made a sprint all the way to the camp. Even when I was flying, I was barely able to keep up. I will take him to his bed... You three should get some sleep too. When everybody arrives tomorrow, we will start exploring the forest."

He then wished us a good night and brought the sleepwalking Wigglytuff into their tent.

The three of us spent some more time at the fire. I guessed that it would be good time to talk with Lya in private. Only problem I had to get out of the way was Ozu.

'Hmm, how can I get him to leave us two alone... Heh, let's try...'

"Hey... Uhm... Ozu, could you let us two girls speak in private for a bit?" I asked him.

He and Lya gave me a confused look.

"What do you mean?" the Pikachu replied.

"Yeah, why don't you want me to stay?" the confused Chimchar asked.

'I hope this will work.'

"Yeah... Uhm... I kind of want to talk about... Girl stuff... I think it could be uncomfortable for you." I answered.

Ozu turned red. "Oh, okay... I will wait in the tent then. Good night." He then got up and walked into our tent.

The Pikachu still had a confused look on her face. "Girl stuff?"

"Am I even old enough for a conversation like this? I think that I'm fourteen or fifteen..." she muttered under her breath.

"Do you want to talk about which one of the boys you find attractive or something? Wait a second... You never told us how old you are." the electric-type asked.

'I haven't even thought about my age before... Fifteen? Sixteen? Grovyle didn't tell me either. Dammit, I should have asked him... Well, let's go with my first impression. Fifteen it is.'

"No, that's not what I wanted to talk about... And about my age... I'm fifteen." I answered.

She was completely perplexed now.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. 'Okay now... let's think about this. What should I ask her. Maybe I should just ask something about Dusknoir. But how should I do it without raising any suspicion? Hmmm... Lets try this...'

I opened my eyes again and looked into her eyes. "Does the name Dusknoir ring a bell to you?"

Her look turned even more confused. "Uhm... Actually, yes. I heard that there is a famous explorer named Dusknoir. Why do you ask?"

'Dusknoir is a famous explorer? So he did travel back in time... Grovyle needs to know about this. Hmm, how do I go on now?'

"Have you ever met him?" I carried on. She shook her head.

"Why do you ask me about him?" Suddenly her expression changed. "...Oh, so that's what you meant with girl stuff! You are a fangirl, right?" she asked with a somewhat mischievous smile.

I sweatdropped. 'Is she serious? She is dead serious isn't she? Oh my god...Okay, that reaction was too random to be an act. If she really was a spy, she would have attacked me or asked something about Grovyle. But... that means... if she is not a spy... Okay, I will go with the other explanation then. She is just a random human named Riley... or... just a crazy Pikachu that thinks it used to be human... I'm not going to get crazy because of some random coincidence... Oh, wait. She asked me question.'

"Kind of... my friend used talk about him all the time. I think." I answered. "And I'm not a fangirl, I haven't met him before either."

"Then why did you ask?" her expression turned confused again.

'Okay, if she is just a random human... Maybe... Should I tell her about me? No, it would be unnecessary. She has amnesia. She couldn't tell me anything about the human world, even if she wanted. So what should I tell her now? Hmm, I kind of want to end this conversation. But how? I don't even remember all of that "girl stuff"... Hmm... Maybe about her and Ozu... It would raise some awkwardness, but after a question like that, she wouldn't want to keep on talking either.'

"No, I just remembered hearing something about him earlier... The real reason I wanted to talk with you... Uhm..." I stopped for a second.

"Are you and Ozu...like... are you two together?" I asked her with a curious face. Now that I had asked the question, I was actually curious about what she would say.

She started to blush.

"N...No. Did it look like it? We are just friends. I used to be human before so something like that would be crazy." she answered nervously.

Her answer remembered me about the awkward conversation I had with Grovyle a few days ago. Her frustration and mine were pretty much the same.

I sighed.

She noticed and got a little upset. "Why? Do you want something from him?"

"What?! No!" I was somewhat shocked by her question.

'What has gotten into her all of a sudden? Is she... jealous?'

"Well... you are a normal Pokemon. What do you see in him then?" the Pikachu was persistent.

"A friend..." I assured her. "Also, I kind of already have a crush on somebody else... I think."

'Wait! Why did I tell her something like that... Ugh, I wanted to ignore that topic. Well, maybe its good that I have another girl to talk about this.'

She looked relieved. "Who is it? Your friend? What is he like?" she asked curiously.

"Well, he is really strong. He is a great explorer and... Uhm... I'm not even sure if im physically attracted to him. But there was a moment when I might have considered it." I explained. "You see, he is not my species and... Ugh, I shouldn't have started this... Please just forget it and I will forget my question about you and Ozu."

My friends expression turned sad. I felt a little sorry for ending our conversation like that, but those topics were just really uncomfortable for me.

I got up and walked towards our tent. Lya followed. When I opened it, I could see that Ozu was already asleep. I grabbed a sleeping bag and lay myself onto the ground. The Pikachu did the same.

It didn't take long before I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up pretty early, next morning. My friends were still asleep, so I decided to go for a morning walk.

I left our tent and looked around the camp. Two more tents were built up. The other guild members were sitting around the fireplace. They must have arrived only a while ago. Everyone looked at me again.

The Sunflora indicated to me to sit down next to her. I walked over to them and did as told.

Everybody started to bombard me with questions. "Are you really called Riley too? Where are you from? Why did you join Ozu's and Riley's team?"

I tried to calm everybody down.

After tiring fifteen minutes, I finished explaining my situation to them. Just then my team members came out of our tent.

"Good, morning Ozu and... Lya." Sunflora greeted them with a smile. The Pikachu blinked.

"Oh, I see. Ri already told you about the new nicknames." Ozu replied. They then joined the other sitting pokemon.

Everybody told about their journeys and what adventures they had on them. There were some interesting stories. One of them mentioned Bidoof stepping into a spinning trap three times. Everybody laughed and the Bidoof turned red. He then countered by telling about Corphish getting knocked out by a Dunsparce.

After an hour of chatting and laughing, the last group finally arrived. It was Team Skull.

When they had finally finished the construction of their tent, Chatot ordered everyone to line up.

"Ehm... Attention, please! It appears that everyone has arrived at our base camp save and sound. We shall now proceed to the exploration of Fogbound Lake. As you can see, we are in a densely forested area. Somewhere within this forest, Fogbound Lake is supposedly concealed... Exploration teams of all stripes have explored this forest before, but so far, nobody was able to find the lake itself." the flying type started.

Suddenly he was interrupted by Chimecho.

"Um, may I?" she asked. "Um, while we were traveling, I heard about a certain legend."

"A legend, you say?" Chatot replied.

"Yes. A legend about Fogbound Lake." she explained. 'Wait, is she talking about the timegear?'

"According to the legend, Fogbound Lake is home to a Pokemon name Uxie. The pokemon is said to be exceedingly rare. Uxie is said to lock eyes with others and wipe their memories clean." she carried on.

'What?!' My eyes shot open.

'Wait, if there is a pokemon that is able to wipe out memories... Maybe... I was... a normal Riolu... maybe I met Uxie and... No, how could I have ended up at Threeshroud Forest then? Another Warp Orb? It can't be... I must have lost my memories when Grovyle and I travelled back in time. God dammit! Why do I always get remembered about that topic. Just ignore it...'

I took a look at Lya. Her face was just as shocked as mine was. Gladly she didn't notice mine. 'She is probably thinking about something similar.'

"That is why, even if travelers were to come across Fogbound Lake... Uxie would just erase their memories. That way it would muzzle the travelers from revealing the existance of the lake. That is how Uxie protects it." Chimecho finished.

A lot of mumbling was heard from the other guild members. After a while, Chatot brought them back to focus again.

"Ahem... You should realize that places of this sort can be expected to have folktale of a legend attached to them. Our guild has overcome difficult challenges and obstacles when conductring successful explorations." he said.

Wigglytuff spoke up again. "Ha ha ha! Don't worry, everything will be all right! Lets believe in success for this adventure too, and... Lets try! Lets try!"

"Lets move on with our plan." the flying type continued. "The guildmaster and I shall remain here to gather intelligence from our teams in the fields. You are to go off in teams to explore this forest. Be aware that this forest is enshrouded in a deep fog. Once you enter it, visibility is severely restricted. We think that Fogbound Lake has defied discovery because of this fog. Perhaps there is way of lifting this fog. Therefore, your search is twofold. One, the search for Fogbound Lake. And two, to find a way to lift the fog. If you accomplish either thing, return to the base camp and tell me or the guildmaster. Alright everyone! Let's give it our best like always!"

"HOORAY!" everyone cheered. This time I joined their cheer. It really was motivating.

The other guild members rushed into the forest. Only Team Skull, Wigglytuff, Chatot and us were left.

The Skuntank stepped forward. "Well then, we should go too. Hmm, boys? Chaw-haw-haw!"

The Koffing and the Zubat replied with a just as annoying laugh. Then they walked off too.

I looked at my teammates. Lya was still in deep thought.

Just then Ozu pulled her out of her trance. "What's wrong? Why did you just drift off like that? Come on, let's get ready and go to the forest."

He then faced me again. "You haven't been focused either. I know what you were thinking about, but maybe if we find Uxie, we can ask it about you two."

The Pikachu and I nodded.

'He is right. Maybe if we find Uxie, I can find a proof of who that other Riley really is. Then I know... Dammit! I am Riley. I came back to this time to find the Time Gears and save the world.' my thoughts stopped for a moment. 'The Time Gear... what if we find it? If I take it, time in this area will stop. And if my friends are inside the blast radius... Wait... if Grovyle and I bring the timegears to Temporal Tower and restore time... The time in this area would become normal again and they would be freed again... Okay, I have a plan now. If I find the Gear, I will take it. I will just have to distract the others and escape the shockwave. After that I would just have to regroup with Grovyle and collect the rest of the gears.'

"Alright, let's roll out!" the Chimchar cheered.

We entered the path leading inside the forest. Looking at my female companion, I could see that she was still in deep thought.

We walked on the path for a while, when Ozu suddenly stopped us. He picked up something from the ground.

Showing it to us revealed that it was some kind of stone.

"Wow, this stone is really pretty. It kind of looks like a gem, actually." he said, examining it. "It feels warm when you touch it! It seems rare, maybe we should keep it."

I inspected the rock. Looking at it gave me a weird feeling.

'Wait a second. Could this be... Grovyle told me about the secret of Fogbound Lake. He mentioned some kind of statue and a gemstone. Could that gemstone be... But... this is just some random gemstone that was laying on the ground. The solution to this secret can't be that easy...'

Ozu put it into his backpack and we entered the mystery dungeon called Foggy Forest.

* * *

Lya had a pretty hard time when she had to fight. The fog was weakening all of her electric-type attacks. When she tried to shock a Hootoot with her Thundershock, it was only covered in a few bruises and dashed at her with its Peck attack. Luckily, Ozu and I helped her out.

The dungeon had a few other flying-types, which were able to use wind based techniques.

A very strong Tranquill gave us a pretty hard time. It flew up high, so it was really hard for us to use our physical moves.

I tried to get close with an "Aerial Ace-Double Jump" but it countered with Air Cutter. The wind blades left a few cuts on my body, and sent me back towards the ground. Throwing overcharged bones at it was ineffective too. It dodged each one of them. Ozu's Ember attacks simply didn't have the range to even touch it.

Our only chance of hitting it, would have been with Lya's electric moves. I looked at her. She looked like if she was coming up with a plan. Just when I thought it, she spoke up.

"Hey, I think I know how we can beat it. Ozu, do you still have that orb we bought from the Kecleon brothers?" the Pikachu asked.

The Chimchar immediately knew what his partner had planned and pulled out a blue orb from his backpack. He then held it above his head and it started to glow.

All of a sudden the flying Tranquill was paralyzed. Not being able to move its wings anymore, made it descend towards the ground. It landed hard, and dissolved into black smoke.

"What was that?" I asked, examining the now grey orb in Ozu's hand.

"That was a foe-seal orb. It's an orb that paralyzes anybody that is hostile towards its user. It has a limited range of course. Luckily that Tranquill was still inside the range of this one." he explained.

I ate an Oran berry to take care of my cuts. The rest of the dungeon went on without any more difficulties.

* * *

After we finished exploring the forest, we found ourselves in a clearing. The fog was still dense, but it sounded like we were near a waterfall.

We walked further into the clearing and were able to see that there were indeed a few waterfalls around us.

"Wow, they there are waterfalls all over the place." Ozu admired them.

"But... where are we? Is this the deepest part of the forest? The fog is so thick, I can't tell which way to go." he was getting a little frustrated.

Just then we heard another voice. "Hey, hey, hey!"

We turned towards its direction. A bit deeper into the clearing we were able to see Corphish waving at us.

We walked up to him.

"Hey, hey! Did you find any clues yet?" he asked.

"No, nothing yet..." Ozu replied. "How about you Corphish?"

"I've got nothing her, either. Don't let it get you down." the water-type answered. "But there is something here that is kind of interesting."

"Interesting?" I was getting curious.

"Come on, I'll show you." he then lead us to a statue that was sticking out of the ground.

'The statue! Then... the stone we found... that's it... The secret of Fogbound Lake has something to do with Ozu's gemstone and this statue.'

We examined the statue.

"What is this? Is it a pokemon?" Ozu asked.

"I've never seen a pokemon like this before." Corphish didn't know either.

I knew what kind of pokemon it was... A Groudon. A legendary pokemon. Somehow, I didn't want to tell them. I didn't want to draw any more attention on me...

Ozu walked around the stone statue.

"Hey, there is something inscribed here!" he suddenly called out.

Everybody walked up behind him. He was right. On the side of the statue were footprint runes.

"Footprint runes... Let me read them." Ozu continued. "Reignite the life that burned within Groudon... Then the sky shall blaze with the sun's heat... The path to treasure shall be revealed."

His eyes got wide. "The path to treasure? That incredible! Guys! Treasure! Could this mean the treasure of Fogbound Lake? The secret to finding Fogbound Lake could be hidden right here!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Y...you think so?" the Corphish was really surprised. "Hey, hey! Now that's a mystery we've got to solve!"

I already knew how to solve the mystery... Somewhere on this statue had to be a place for Ozu's gemstone. After that the fog around this area would fade... But I wanted them find out themselves.

'I will only say something, when they are about to give up.'

Ozu and Corphish repeated the inscribed text over and over again. They theorized for a while when Ozu suddenly offered something I would never have seen coming.

"I know! Lya, touch the statue! Maybe you will see something!" the Chimchar said.

The Pikachu nodded.

I was getting confused. "Why do you want her to touch it?"

"Just wait and see..." he simply answered.

Lya walked in front of the statue, closed her eyes and touched it... Nothing happened.

Suddenly her feet started to shake and her expression changed. After a second her eyes shot open. She looked kind of drained.

After another second, her eyes closed again. After yet another second, she opened them again.

The Pikachu then held its paw against its head.

'What did just happen?'

I was getting worried.

'What happened to her?'

The Chimchar was getting worried too. "Are you okay?"

She responded with a nod. After a while, Lya removed her hand from her head and put it under her chin.

'What? Is she thinking about something?'

She then moved around the statue.

'Is she looking for something? Wait...'

"Hey, Ozu... can you give me the stone you found earlier." she asked.

'She can't possibly...'

He blinked.

"Sure, why do you want it?" the Chimchar asked, handing it to her.

She didn't response and simply put the red gemstone into a hollow in the Groudon's chest.

'What the hell? How did she figure it out? Just by touching the statue she was able to uncover its secret?'

As soon as Lya placed the stone in its designated place, the statues eyes started to glow.

Everybody jumped. The earth suddenly began to shake.

"Whoa! Step back everyone!" Ozu ordered. We did as told. The whole statue started to glow as we tried to create some distance from it.

We tried to run away, but the bright light engulfed us and everything went white.

When I regained my vision after a few seconds, I could see that all of the fog around us was gone.

My comrades slowly opened their eyes too. Everybody was stunned.

"Hey, hey! The fog is gone!" Corphish realized.

"The sky cleared... Wow, the sunlight is really bright." Ozu commented, looking at the sky. "Hey! Look!"

I looked up and found... I was speechless.

There was a huge goblet-shaped rock formation towering above us. Water poured down from the edges. That was where the waterfalls around us were coming from.

After a few moments of staring, Corphish spoke up again.

"Hey... I have no idea how you did this, Lya... But... Somone needs to report this to Chatot and the Guildmaster! I'll go, you three should see if you can find a way up there!" he said with excitement in his voice.

Then he rushed into the forest.

I walked up to my friends again. I wanted to ask Lya how she had figured out the secret, when we suddenly heard a voice.

"Chaw-haw-haw. Look what we have were." it said. I immediately knew who it was. I could tell by the foul smell in the air.

Team Skull walked out behind a near waterfall.

"We overheard your little conversation about the treasure... Well, we can't have you finding the treasure first. Team Skull will find it first!" Skuntank grinned at us.

I looked at my friends. Both of them grit their teeth and were shaking from anger. They really must've hated those guys.

"You jerks just came along to claim the treasure all for yourselves?!" I could clearly hear the anger in Ozu's voice.

"Ho-ho-ho, did you expect any less from us?" the Koffing asked with a grin.

"No way were going to let that happen." Lya growled.

"So you want to stop us? I seem to recall what happened last time..." Skuntank smirked. "I don't think that new friend of yours will be able to make a difference. Sorry, but were going to knock you out now."

'What is he planing?'

My friends looked nervous all of a sudden.

Just then the Koffing floated to his side and the Zubat backed off.

"Enough, talk! NOXIOUS G...!" He was stopped by my voice in his ear.

I had used Extremespeed to get behind the two poison-types.

"Sorry, can't let that happen." I said before knocking both of them out with two well aimed bones to the back of their heads.

The Skuntank fell to his side, and the Koffing simply dropped onto the ground.

I tilted my head and looked at the now terrified Zubat. His mouth was wide open and he was covered in sweat.

I gave him a menacing growl. And all of a sudden, he flew off into the woods.

'Coward...He just let his team members behind. I would go after him but we have to find a way to the lake up there.'

"Come on! Let's see if we can find a cave or something else that leads up there." I yelled to my friends.

They were stunned. Extremespeed really was an extreme move. Somehow it felt like I could control how much faster I would become. The more aura I used, the faster I would get.

My body felt drained and I was panting. Also, the left side of my back was hurting a bit. I must have moved in a bad way, putting bad pressure on my still recovering rib.

They walked up to me.

"Ri... That was unbelievable! Suddenly you were behind them and then..." Ozu couldn't believe how fast I just was. "Hey, are you okay? You are panting."

"I'm fine... Moving that fast eats up a lot of energy. I just need a few minutes" I replied. "Those jerks didn't expect that, that's for sure."

We continued our exploration. After moving along the base of the rock formation for a while, we found an entrance to a cave. Around the entrance were a lot of holes with steam coming out of them.

Ozu stocked us up on supplies before we headed into the cave.

* * *

Entering it, revealed that it was a mystery dungeon.

We mostly had to face off against fire and rock types. Bone Rush proofed to be very useful in this dungeon. My ground-type attack was super-effective against every wild pokemon we came across.

The only problem we had, was the temperature... Lya and I struggled to walk through the steaming hot dungeon. Ozu didn't have the slightest problem with the heat. He even enjoyed it. Well, he was a fire-type so it was only natural for him to like hot areas.

After a tiring hour, we came across a room that wasn't quite as hot as the rest of the dungeon. The weird "dungeon feeling" had faded. We must have come across a safe zone before the next part of the dungeon.

We decided to take a break and have a snack. Ozu pulled out three apples from his backpack. After taking the first bite out of my apple, I remembered that I wanted to ask them something before.

*Munch* "So... How did you manage to figure out the secret of the statue?" I asked again.

Just when the Pikachu opened its mouth a loud roar echoed through the cave.

I didn't know how to respond at first.

"What... was... that?" Ozu asked anxiously.

I finished eating my apple and got up.

"I guess that question just doesn't want to get answered..." I sighed.

"Let's find out!" I winked at the Chimchar.

Ozu responded with a forced smile. 'That roar must have scared him.'

"Okay, with somebody as strong as you on our side, there is nothing to be worried about." he complimented me. I gave him a smile in response.

* * *

My friends completed their meals and we went into the second part of the dungeon.

The heat was really getting on my nerves. The pokemon in this part were stronger too. Most of them were fully evolved, turning the puny Embers from their unevolved counterparts into powerful Flamethrowers.

Now and then we could hear the roar again. But with every cleared floor... It got louder.

After we finally finished the last floor, we found ourselves on top of the goblet-shaped rock. In the middle of the plateau was another rock formation. It almost seemed like a final barrier to keep intruders from finding the source of the water. Inside the huge stone wall were a few holes. From them, the water was flowing towards the edges of the platform. Fogbound Lake had to be behind those rock.

We went closer to it and found another opening. No water was coming out of it, so we assumed that it had to be the entrance to the lake.

As soon as we came close to it, we were stopped by a familiar noise. "GROOOUUUHH!" It was coming from the opening.

"Do you think that thing we heard earlier could be in there?" Ozu asked anxiously. He looked at me with a worried face. Suddenly he noticed something on my right hand.

"Hey, Ri! Look at your hand!" the Chimchar said, pointing at it with his finger.

The back of my paw was faintly glowing again. Just like in Limestone Cavern. The weird symbol was barely visible.

And just like in Limestone Cavern, I couldn't investigate it any further because of an interruption.

Another roar was coming out of the opening. This time we were able to hear footsteps too.

"Get ready, whatever it is, it's coming." I said, getting into my battle stance. My team members also got ready.

The footsteps became louder and louder. The earth began to shake.

We finally knew the source of the roaring, when a Groudon walked out from the shadows of the entrance.

"I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOGBOUND LAKE!" it yelled at us as it came closer. "TURN BACK NOW, OR I WILL HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE THAN TO FIGHT YOU!"

'Wow... I thought Uxie was the guardian of Fogbound Lake. If I want to get the Time Gear, I will have to defeat it and Uxie... Dammit, Ozu and Lya could get hurt in those fights. It's bad enough that I will have to trap them in time..."

"What is this thing!?" Ozu was getting terrified. I faced my friend.

"Hey, remember what you said earlier? I will handle this guy." I patted my hand onto his back.

"What?! Ri, you can't be serious!" Lya was shocked.

"Let me try to take him on alone at first. Only interfere if I'm really about to get knocked out." I ordered, stepping towards my new enemy.

'Another legendary... That Terrakion was just a Ditto, yes... But this time... It's the real deal.'

I knew myself that it was stupid to reject the help from my friends but somehow I wanted to defeat that Groudon in an one on one fight.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" the Groudon was surprised. "REJECTING THE HELP FROM YOUR COMRADES AND TAKING ME ON ALL BY YOURSELF?"

I put my paws together in front of me. "Come on, I want to see what a real legendary is capable of!" I yelled, pulling my paws outwards and creating a bone between them. I broke it in half and spun my two batons around, before getting into Grovyle's stance.

The Groudon let out a last roar, before our battle started.

I used Extremespeed and dashed behind it. I wanted to put a full force baton blow to its back, but when my attack was about to connect, the ground-type quickly turned around and brought up its left arm to block my bone.

I was stunned for a second. 'What the? How can something this massive be so fast?'

I used my legs to push myself away from it. When I landed a few feet away from it, I threw my bones at him. The legendary dodged both of them with ease.

It charged at me and tried to crush me with its right claw. I backstepped. Its massive red claw dug into the ground, making it shatter.

The Groudon quickly pulled its claw out and charged at me again. It jumped up into the air and tried to crush me under it with a Bodyslam.

Just then I tripped over a stone and fell backwards. My eyes shut tight, when I hit the back of my head on the ground. When I opened them again, everything was dark.

'Fu...'

My whole body was in pain as the massive groud-type crushed me. I could hear the terrified screams of my friends. When I heard the ground below me start to crack, I blacked out for a second.

...

The pain was horrible. My rib felt like it was broken for good this time. I slowly opened my eyes again. In front of me was the backside of a Groudon.

I forced my shaky legs to get up... Everything was blurry. My hearing was muffled. I had to cough... blood was coming out of my mouth. I looked at my body and saw that it was covered in bruises. The bandage on my chest was ripped apart.

'This...' I coughed up even more blood. 'Sucks.'

The fact that I probably had internal wounds and a broken rib didn't really matter to me. My mind was focused on the Groudon.

"We are not done!" I screamed at my enemy.

The legendary turned around again. It was surprised that I was still conscious.

My senses returned to normal. I looked behind the Groudon and saw my terrified friends.

"Ri! You are okay!" Ozu had tears in his eyes.

Lya was just staring at me. She seemed to be in shock.

"Hey, Groudon! Round two!" I said, as I opened my pouch and pulled out an Oran berry from it. I quickly put it in my mouth and swallowed it whole.

"AS YOU WISH!" it replied, turning around to face me again.

'Dammit, that attack nearly knocked me out for good. This thing is just to fast...' I had to change my strategy.

...

'Fast...' A plan was forming in my head. 'That would use up a lot of energy, but it's worth a try.'

I created an overcharged bone in my hand. I then threw it at the Groudon.

"TRYING THI..." Just then I appeared behind it and readied a kick.

I had used Extemespeed at the exact moment my bone left my hand. That way I was able to outrun my bone and lock the Groudon into a situation where it was guaranteed to be hit by one of my attacks. It only had to choose which one.

My plan had a little weak point though. The Groudon turned around and slashed its claw at me. I brought up my arms in front of me to block some of the damage.

I managed to hit it with an explosion to the face, but right when it went off, the Groudon sent me flying towards the edge of the plateau.

"Ri!" Ozu and Lya screamed in union as I flew over the edge.

Under me was now a drop of about hundred meters. The impact from the last blow didn't go by unnoticed. When I fully regained my awareness, I was already falling downwards. Next to me was a stone wall that was moving away from me with every second.

I had to act quick. I spun around my body and tried to use Aerial Ace. When the first airstream started to from around me, a huge amount of pain shot through my body. It was coming from my cracked rib.

I grit my teeth and looked down. That drop would kill me. When I was about to give up and accept it, a memory shot through my head.

_Everything was blurry. I was falling down a cliff. The next thing I saw, was that my vision turned towards the approaching ground. Then a blue paw entered my vision. A blue energy was forming around it. The collected energy then burst out and shot my body upwards. My vision turned towards the cliff again. Two blue paws were now grabbing onto the wall. Then it ended._

I did the same thing I saw in my vision and put my left paw out below me. I concentrated aura into it and let the blue energy shoot out from it. The force from my new attack flung my body back up and towards the wall.

I quickly turned around and grabbed onto it. I had to take a few breaths to calm down...

'Wow... that was close. Another memory where I'm a pokemon... Was I ever a human in the first place? Or... Maybe I was sent back further in time than Grovyle and had a few adventures without him. That would make sense. And then... when I tried to grab the first Time Gear... That was when I lost my memories! Ugh, I can't spend my time theorizing down here... I need to climb back up there and help my friends.'

With that I slowly made my way up the goblet-shaped rock again. The climb was exhausting. When I was nearly at the edge, I was able to hear the sounds of a battle.

'They must fight him right now... Come on, hurry up! They need me!'

When I finally reached the top again, I could see Groudon swoop down its claw at my now wounded and exhausted friends.

Its attack was about to hit, when a kick to the face made it stumble back a few steps.

The eyes of my friends were wide open when they saw me land between them and the ground-type.

"Did you miss me?" I said with a smirk.

"Ri!" My team members had tears in their eyes. They ran up to me and hugged me. I put my paws on their backs and returned the hug.

"W...We thought you were dead." Ozu sobbed.

Lya just buried her head in my shoulder.

"Come on, I need you two to finish this." I ended our hug and faced the Groudon again. The side of its face was red and swollen. My kick had left a mark. On the other side I could still see the black spots from my Bone Rush attack. It also had a few burns all over its body. Ozu and Lya must have managed to do some damage too.

My friends rubbed the tears out of their eyes and walked up to my side.

"YOU... I AM IMPRESSED." Groudon said. "BUT STILL, I WILL NOT LET YOU PASS!"

I dashed forward and jumped right above its head. Instinct told me to use my new move. I placed my paw on top of its head and shot out a high pressured stream of aura. My attack sent its head towards the ground.

Lya reacted immediately and continued our team attack with and Quickattack enhanced Thunderpunch uppercut. The Groudon was lifted from the ground a bit.

Ozu finished our combo with a Flamewheel to the legendary's stomach.

It was sent flying backwards and landed on its back. It let out one final roar before it stopped moving.

"We did it." Ozu couldn't believe it. "We... really beat him."

"Yeah..." Lya panted. "Thank you, Ri."

All of us were covered in bruises. I wiped off the little rest of blood that had come out of my mouth.

'What now... Behind that opening has to be the Time Gear. Maybe I can make them wait here for a while and go in without them... They would probably be able to escape the time stopping shockwave...'

Suddenly our defeated enemy began to glow in a bright light. When its whole body was white, it disappeared with a flash.

"It... disappeared?" Ozu asked. The three of us were getting confused now.

Then I heard another voice. It was strange somehow. I couldn't actually hear somebody say something, the words just popped up in my head.

"That was not Groudon..." the weird voice started. "It was merely an illusion I conjured."

We looked around. "Who said that?" Ozu asked.

"Like I said earlier, I'm the guardian of this lake." the voice continued. "You managed to impress me back there, but I still can't let you pass."

"Wait! We are not here to cause any trouble! We just came to see Fogbound Lake!" the Chimchar replied. "Please, believe us! We mean no harm!"

...

"...Well, okay. I believe you." the voice finished.

Just then a light formed in front of us. When the light faded, a pokemon stood in its place.

Its body was mostly white. It had two tails with something like two rubys at the end of them. On its head was something like a yellow cap that was a part of its body. On its forehead was another red gemstone. It eyes were closed.

"I am Uxie, the guardian of Fogbound Lake." the floating pokemon said.

"Uxie?!" Lya yelled out.

"Yes. I guard over something special, that is hidden here in Fogbound Lake." Uxie carried on.

'The Time Gear... Dammit, I'm already worn out and if the worst case would happen I would have to fight that psychic-type.'

"Come on, I will lead you to the lake." it said, before it floated into the opening behind it.

We followed the guardian. We had to walk through a short cave section. In the dark, I noticed the glow on my hand again. The closer we got to the exit, the brighter the symbol on the back of my paw got.

'What the hell is this? It looks like a gear... Last time it showed up was when I fought that Ditto... Wait... If Uxie is leading us to the Time Gear... In Limestone Cavern I was probably near a Time Gear too... Grovyle mentioned a special ability I have... could this symbol... Is that the Dimensional Scream? Okay, I better don't let anyone know about it. If I find Dusknoir in this time and he somehow finds out about it...'

I covered the glow on my right hand with my left one.

After we made it through the passage, we could finally see the fabled Fogbound Lake. It didn't feel that long, but the walk through the passageway took us probably an hour. It was nighttime all of a sudden.

In front of us was a huge body of water. Something at its bottom was luminating the water. A few Illumise and Volbeat were flying over the water making an even brighter light show. The sight was beautiful.

When Uxie lead us to the edge, I felt dizzy and light headed all of a sudden. 'What the?'

The psychic type faced us again.

"Behold, this is Fogbound Lake!" it said, holding its arms outwards.

My friends were stunned by the view. Sure, it was beautiful... But the thing that stood out for me, was the next thing I saw.

At the bottom of the lake... was a Time Gear. Uxie just mentioned it to my friends and told them to get closer and have a better look. I didn't hear anything from their conversation. I was focused on the glowing artifact. My heart started to race and I could feel a little sweat on my forehead.

'That's it! The Time Gear! But how am I supposed to get it? I would have to swim all the way down there... First of all, I need a distraction. That Uxie seems to be very strong. I wouldn't stand a chance in my current condition', just then my vision turned blurry. 'What is going on? That last battle can't have worn me out like this... My friends don't seem to have any trouble. Ugh...'

After my friends finished admiring the Time Gear, Uxie told them more about the lake. I decided to listen pay attention again.

"Many others have tried to trespass here... But I scared off most of them with my illusions." it explained while it created another illusion of Groudon next to us.

The illusion was transparent and flickered now and then. After all, it was just a presentation.

"There have been others before you, that were able to defeat it... But they were trespasser and therefore I took away their memories." Uxie carried on.

"Took away their memories?" Ozu asked curiously. He looked at Lya. She responded with a nod.

"Hey, we would like to ask you something!", the Chimchar faced the legendary again. "This is my partner Riley. She has lost her memory and claims that she was a human before that. Have you ever met a human before and took away its memory? Or maybe the memory of a Pikachu named Riley?"

The psychic type looked surprised. "A human?" Uxie stopped for a second. "I am sorry but the answer is...No. I haven't met a human before, nor did I take away the memories of a Pikachu."

I looked over to my now disappointed friends. "So, that eliminates that option, huh?"

'I guess I'll have to find another way to find out who she really is... Ugh... My head...'

"I should explain further... You see, I can only take the memories of Fogbound Lake. And also, I just lock them up in their subconsciousness. Destroying someone's complete memory takes forces which are much more powerful than mine are." it carried on.

"Well, do you have the ability to unlock memories as well? Both of my friends have a problem with them..." Ozu replied.

"I am sorry. I have no ability like that." the legendary answered with a sad voice.

Suddenly we heard a familiar voice. "What's that? A Time Gear! A Time Gear! Well too bad..." It was the voice of Wigglytuff, who was coming out of the passage.

"We can't take a Time Gear." he said walking up to the water.

Everybody gave him a surprised look.

"Wow! Fantastic" he exclaimed, staring into the lake.

"Uhm... who is this?" Uxie asked.

"That's our guildmaster." Ozu replied.

The fairy-type faced the floating guardian of the lake. "Glad, to meet you friend!" he said, giving him a smile.

"Friend! Friend! Friend!" he chanted.

He kept up his little song and even continued it when he faced the flickering illusion of the fierce Groudon.

I sweatdropped. 'He can't be serious.'

Wigglytuff walked back to the edge of the lake. "Look at this amazing view."

Just then the rest of the guild entered the scene. They were a little shocked when they first saw the image of Groudon, but Uxie quickly calmed them down.

There was a little commotion before everyone lined up to admire the lake. Ozu, Lya and I were standing right at the edge of the water. The rest of the guild was behind us.

'I need a distraction...Ugh!' a wave of weakness shot through my body. I started to pant. '... Fast.'

Suddenly a huge fountain of water shot out of the middle of the lake. The Volbeat and Illumise flew around it in circles, making an even more beautiful scene.

The whole guild was stunned. 'This is my chance...'

I looked at my friends and saw that their eyes were locked onto the light show.

'Come on!...Ugh, I can't even think straight anymore. I need to do something.'

I looked at Ozu. An idea was starting to form in my head. 'Can I really do this?'

I patted him on the shoulder. I held my hand up to my mouth, indicating that I wanted to whisper something to him. He looked at me and brought his head closer to mine.

"This..view...sure is romantic...huh?" I panted, winking at him. A small pink heart formed in front of my eye and flew into his face. It shattered and he started to blush.

'Okay... now to step two.' I wanted to make it look like he tried to kiss me.

The next thing was unexpected. Suddenly the blushing Chimchar really brought his head towards my face and pushed his lips against mine.

I was shocked.

"What the hell?!" I yelled, pushing him away from me and into the crowd.

The impact with the ground lifted my influence on him. He looked like he didn't even know what just happened.

"What is wrong with you?" I had to take a breath before I could continue. "He just kissed me all of a sudden!"

My vision was even blurrier than before. Just pushing him off me made my legs shaky. 'Maybe... because of... the blood...'

The eyes of every Pokemon locked onto my tricked friend.

Now was my chance... There was no going back.

As soon as I tried to turn around and jump into the lake... My legs gave up on me and my vision wandered towards the ground.

I didn't even feel the impact. I blacked out mid fall.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 6**


	7. Trouble from the past

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Trouble from the past  
**

* * *

**BGM: Id (Darkness) - Fire Emblem Awakening**

Everything was cold...and dark. My body somehow felt non existant.

_Am I dreaming?_

My thoughts echoed into the darkness around me.

_What the hell? Where am I?_

I didn't know how, but I suddenly felt another presence. The feeling was... odd. In front of me was pure darkness, but somehow I knew that somebody else was here with me.

_...hat...av...y...u...t...en...y...self...i...to...ag...n..._

_Hello? Who's there?_

_...u...d...t...ve...r...me...b...m...heh...pa...h...ic..._

_I can't understand you!_

I suddenly felt the presence move away from me.

_No! Please, wait!_

Then it was gone.

* * *

I was alone again. I didn't even know if I was conscious or not. Was I dead? Had the wounds from the fight with Groudon finished me off?

Time didn't seem to exist in this place either... How long had I been in here? Hours? Days? Years? I didn't know. I was floating through this endless limbo until...

The feeling of nothingness faded as the void around me slowly revealed a new scenery. The awareness of my body came back with it. It felt like I was dreaming.

_I was in a forest. I'm looked familiar somehow. There was something laying on the ground. I bent down to pick it up. Something about it was odd. The shape of the object was not identifiable, a black fog was surrounding it. The black fog was familiar to me too. I had seen it in some of my previous memory shreds. The earth began to shake all of a sudden. A loud noise was coming from behind me. I turned around and found a wave of darkness coming my direction. My body didn't move. The wave soon reached me and as soon as it touched me, everything went black._

**Stop music  
**

* * *

"Aaah!" I yelled as my eyes shot open. My whole body jumped and responded with pain. My heart felt like it would burst any second and my breath was trembling.

My body calmed down after a while and my breathing returned to normal. I lifted myself up to inspect my surroundings. Moving was painful, but I had to know where I was.

I was laying in a bed. Looking around revealed that I was in the infirmary of the guild again. To my right was a little table. a cup of water and a bowl with two apples were on top of it.

Just when I saw them my stomach began to growl. I took one apple out of the bowl and bit down on it. In a matter of seconds, only its core was left in my paw. My arm was covered in bandages. I held up the blanket that was laying on top of me and inspected the rest of my body. My chest and legs were covered in bandages aswell.

I put the core back into the bowl and grabbed the cup of water. I quickly gulped it down and placed it back on the table. There was nobody else in the room, so I had time for myself. There was a window above my bed. Moonlight was shining through it. The other guild members were probably asleep right now.

I sighed.

'Dammit. What happened back there? Why did I pass out like that?' I assumed that it was because of Groudon's Bodyslam, but I felt fine when I climbed up to the lake again, making the whole situation feel odd to me.

My mission was a failure. I wasn't able to collect the Time Gear. Just because my stupid body gave up on me. And that when I was right in front of it.

'And... oh no. Ozu... Lya... Dammit! I shouldn't have done that to them.' I regretted my last action. I knew that it was for the better good, but my plan had failed.

'How am I supposed to explain it to them? God dammit!' I cursed in my head. 'What if somebody saw what I did to Ozu?'

Suddenly the door opened. The silhouette of a Pikachu was standing in the doorway. Lya walked into the room and approached my bed.

"Hello, Ri." she said coldly. I gulped. There was something terrifying in her eyes.

"You have been out for a few days. Everybody was really worried about you." she explained. "Your scream woke me up, so I came to check on you."

"H-Hi, Lya." I greeted her with a shaky voice. "What happened?"

"Well, everybody was admiring the view, when you suddenly pushed Ozu on the ground and yelled something about him trying to kiss you." she replied. "The next thing everybody saw, was you passed out on the ground."

"Yeah, I remember that but... Did you carry me all the way back to the guild?" I asked.

"Yes, we had to carry you all the way back here. We couldn't just let our friend lay there, could we?"the Pikachu empathized on "friend". Her tone wasn't getting any warmer. What was wrong with her?

'Wait? Did she notice?' I was getting tensed up.

"Uhm... Thank you. I have no idea what happened there. I just felt weak and light-headed all of a sudden." I replied.

"No problem... It's what friends are there for." Lya empathized on the word "friends" again.

Suddenly she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her. The quick motion made my back hurt a little.

"Well, now that you know a few things about friends, let me tell you what they don't do." the look in her eyes turned threatening. I was actually getting scared of her.

'She knows.' Sweat was starting to form on my forehead.

"First of all, friends don't attack each other with Attract and let it look like it was the other ones fault after that!" she yelled. "Everybody is looking at Ozu like he is some kind of pervert ever since you did that to him!"

Her grip on my arm was getting tighter and she pulled my face directly in front of hers. The result was more pain on my back.

"But that's not what really makes me mad." Lya closed her eyes for a second.

When she opened them again, I was shocked. Her eyes were giving me a look, I would never forget again. A look of hate.

"You lied to me." her voice was overflowing with anger.

"You said, you weren't even interested in him!" her voice was slowly returning to its coldness from before.

I was speechless. My mouth was wide open, but I couldn't get it to bring out any words.

Suddenly she released her grip on me and brought her arm up to her head. She looked dizzy and absent. Her eyes shot tight and she took a step back.

After a few seconds, her expression turned normal and she opened her eyes again.

She looked at me again. She didn't speak. An awkward silence was hanging in the room. I took the opportunity to finally speak up again.

"Lya... I... I'm sorry. I swear to you, I had no idea I could use Attract. I don't even remember how I used it. It just happened." I lied. "And... I will tell you again. I see Ozu only as a friend."

She didn't respond for a few second before she said something I would never have expected.

...

"I see, you didn't lie after all." her voice was filled with emotion again. It sounded relieved somehow.

"What?" I asked. She perplexed me with those last words.

"I have seen you and your friend. Your friend was a little foggy, but he was giving you a blanket and when you touched his hand you started to blush. I guess you really have a crush on him." she answered with a giggle.

"What the...?!"

I was speechless. When I fully realized what she just said, my cheeks responded by getting hot and red again.

"I'm sorry for getting rough on you just now, but I thought that you lied to me and somehow that made my blood boil." she apologized.

"H... How did you...?" my mind couldn't process how she could have known about it.

"I have this special ability... When I touch something or somebody, I get visions sometimes. They show me the past or the future of the them." she answered. "That way I figured out the secret of the statue too."

I didn't think further about it. I was just happy that she didn't try to kill me anymore.

"But, you are not forgiven yet." she continued. "You still have to tell everyone that it was your fault, Ozu acted like that."

"Yea, sure! Again, I'm really sorry." I replied.

"I'm not the person you should apologize to." With those words she walked back to the doorway. Her voice turned cold again.

"If I find out that you did know Attract, before... Well, let's just hope I won't.", she said, closing the door. Somehow those words made a shiver run down my spine.

I gulped again. 'I hope so, too.' I thought, wiping the sweat off my forehead.

I placed my head on my pillow and pulled my blanket back over my body.

'That's what I get for tricking my friends... Friends. I have only known them for a couple of days now. But I trust them and they trust... trusted me... What am I supposed to do now? I... will try to convince them. I will gain their trust again and then I will tell them the truth. And then, we will look for Grovyle and safe the world.'

I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest.

* * *

UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!

Loudred's wake up call even reached into the infirmary. It surprised me that it didn't wake me up earlier. Lya mentioned that I had been here for a couple of days.

I threw the blanket off my body and jumped onto the ground. Bad idea. My back felt like it was on fire. I had to hold onto the table next to the bed, in order to keep me from falling. This time my rib had to be broken. Being crushed under a massive Groudon can't be healthy for an already injured bone.

A little basket full of Sitrus berries under the table caught my attention. I bent down, resulting in another wave of pain and grabbed two berries out of it.

Just like last time, my pain faded away, after I had consumed them.

Now that I felt better, I made my way towards the main room. The other guild members were probably just beginning with the morning-briefing.

I opened the door of the infirmary and was greeted by the looks of a dozen pokemon.

Not knowing how to respond I simply walked over to my team members. I wanted to talk to them, but their attention was focused on Chatot.

He held his morning speech like nothing had happened.

"HURRAY!" everybody cheered.

I assumed that everybody would go off and do missions or something but they simply stood where they were and looked at me.

"Uhm... Hello." I spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "First of all... Ozu, I'm sorry."

The Chimchar responded with an understanding look.

"Everybody! Ozu didn't have anything to do with what happened at the lake!" I explained. "I don't know how but I used Attract on him by mistake."

I could hear a lot of mumbling in the crowd.

Ozu walked right in front of me and put his hand onto my right shoulder.

"Don't mention it. I don't even remember what exactly happened anymore. It was an accident." he said, giving me a smile.

I was stunned. He just forgave me like nothing had even happened.

"Ozu... I..." I didn't know what to say.

"Hey, just forget about it." he said, walking back to his place.

I faced the other guild members again.

"And secondly... Thank all of you for carrying me back to the guild..." I continued. "I'm sorry... I just passed out and..."

Chimecho cut me off. "There is no need to be sorry. When Ozu and Lya told me what happened, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. You should be happy that you are still alive."

I gave her an confused look. 'What? Was I really in that bad shape?'

"I want you to come into the infirmary with me, after everybody left for their jobs." she continued.

"O... okay." I replied, now being worried.

Chatot spoke up again. "Ahem... Thank you, Ri. There has been some confusion among the guild members because of this incident. As Chimecho said before, you will have to come with her for a medical check. Your team members will go after their missions as usual. If you are fit enough to leave the guild, you are allowed to take a look around treasure town and wait for your friends to return. After your full recovery, they will give you an introduction of their daily routines."

I responded with a nod.

"Okay, everyone! Get back to your missions." he finished.

The other guild members soon had left the room.

Ozu approached me. "We will be back soon... I hope Chimecho has some good news for you." he said.

I looked at Lya. She was just giving me a smile... The meaning behind it was clear to me. This Pikachu would watch my every move from now on.

"Uhm... Thank you. How long will you be gone?" I asked.

"We will only do one mission today. I guess six to eight hours. Depends on the mission." Ozu replied.

"Good luck, then." I said.

"See you later!" they answered in union, walking up to the ladder.

* * *

I faced Chimecho again. She led me into the infirmary and ordered me to sit down on a chair.

"Is something wrong with me?" I asked nervously.

"You had fatal, internal injuries. A few organs were squeezed and your rib was broken for good this time." the psychic-type explained. "Luckily you have eaten an Oran berry right after it happened. It mended most of the tears in your organs. If you had not taken it, you probably would have bled out from inside. I am surprised that you were still able to climb up to your friends again and even continue to fight after that."

"So if that Oran berry healed most of my wounds... Why did you tell me that I was almost dead?" I asked, getting confused.

"Well, I still had to use Heal Pulse on you to completely heal the damage. But that was not the reason... Your body was almost completely out of aura." she answered with a serious expression.

"What do you mean?" I had no idea what aura had to do with my health.

Chimecho sighed. "Every living being has a certain life-force flowing through it. Riolu and Lucario have a special connection with that life-force. They are able to manipulate it like no other species is. But that connection has its drawbacks too... If one of them runs completely out of aura... They die." she kept up her serious tone.

I gulped in response.

"Okay, I get it..." I replied. I was a mystery to me, how I could have lost so much aura.

"But you should have already known tha..." she stopped for a second. "Um, sorry. I have forgotten about your amnesia."

"Don't mention it... Is there something else?" I asked.

"I will do one more check on you to see if your aura has fully recovered." Chimecho's eyes started glowing again.

A weird sensation ran through my body.

"Okay... Aha... All of your internal injuries have fully closed up and your rib has already mended again." she explained.

'What? Her psychic powers let her diagnose any illness and injury just like that?'

Suddenly the bandages around my arms and legs unwrapped and levitated into a nearby basket.

"Most of your cuts and bruises are also completely healed." she continued.

"Aura wise... " her expression turned confused all of a sudden.

"There is an anomaly. It feels like a compressed hull of aura is surrounding your body. I haven't seen anything like it before... I can't exactly feel how much aura it is, but if I look at the density, I would say it is a lot." She turned around and floated to a little desk that was standing in the corner of the room.

The Chimecho used her psychic powers to lift up a piece of paper that was laying on it.

The psychic-type floated back to me, putting the paper right in front of me.

"Here, take this map of Treasure Town..." she said. I thanked her and grabbed it.

"For now, you are allowed to leave the guild. I know somebody who knows a little more about aura than me... Look for Marowak's Dojo, maybe he can help you." she explained. "Oh, and don't dare to think about training there. It will take another three days before I can allow you to put that much stress on your body."

"Okay. Thank you, Chimecho." I turned around an headed towards the door.

* * *

I walked back into the main room of the guild. Croagunk was sitting in front of his caldron again. When he noticed me, he gave me the same soul piercing stare I had received last time. 'What is wrong with this guy?'

Creeped out, and a little scared, I walked past him and climbed up the ladder to the first floor of the guild.

To my right stood two pokemon, looking at a bulletin board. I recognized them as Bidoof and Sunflora.

I walked over to them, giving them a greet. I was curious, what those boards were all about.

"Oh! Hi there, Ri!" Sunflora greeted happily. "Are you okay again? It has been five days since we were at the lake."

'Five days? No wonder, I was so hungry and thirsty when I woke up...'

"Yes, I should be completely fit in three days. Can you tell me what those boards are all about?" I asked , looking at the board.

It was a normal wooden board with a lot of letters pinned onto it. Footprint runes were inscribed on the papers.

"Well, those are the missions we do everyday. Many pokemon need help nowadays and the exploration teams are happy to do so." she explained. "They send their problems to the guilds and outposts and explorers can take on those missions then."

"Oh, so all of those letters are missions from pokemon that need help." I combined.

"Correct!" she confirmed with a smile.

I examined a few of them. 'Friend got lost while exploring... Lost my family treasure, please help!... Need Escort...'

"Ah, pretty straight forward." I commented after reading a few of them.

"And after we finish them, we get rewarded with money and sometimes even more than that!" she continued.

"Oh, so what kind of job are you doing today?" I asked.

"Well, still haven't decided yet. At first we wanted to take out an outlaw, but the jobs today are really hard." the grass-type answered.

"Outlaws?" I was getting even more curious.

"Yes, there are many bandits and thieves out there. Another job of the exploration teams is to help Magnezone's police forces to capture these outlaws. The wanted posters are on the other board." she explained, pointing at the other bulletin board in the room.

The three of us walked over to it. There were a few posters pinned onto the board. Each one of them had a little drawing of the wanted outlaw on them.

One of them caught my attention. At the bottom left corner of the board was a poster with a question mark on it.

Sunflora noticed me examining it and decided to tell me the story behind it.

"Oh! This mission is about the disappearence of the timegear in Treeshroud Forest. Somebody has stolen it." she explained.

I was frozen for a second. I looked at the writing under the question mark.

'Timegear at Threeshroud Forest has been stolen. The idendity of the thief is still unknown. Any information about suspicious behavior around the location of other timegears should be given to Magnezone immediately.'

'Okay... They have no idea who it was. Also, they still don't know that the timegear in Limestone Cavern is gone too. I hope it stays that way.'

I faced the grass-type again. "Well, I'm going to check out the town now. Good luck on your mission!"

I walked past Sunflora and Bidoof, heading for the ladder.

"Okay... Bye!" they said in union, walking back to the other board.

* * *

I left the guild and made my way to the crossroad I had seen a few days ago. Spinda's café was tempting, but I decided to check it out after my visit of Marowak's dojo.

This time I took the right path, which was leading to treasure town.

After walking for a while, I found myself at the main square of the town. There were several tents and market stalls around me. A few pokemon were gathered all around the town. I assumed that most of them were explorers, because of their equipment. Most of them wore scarfs with badges pinned onto them.

I pulled out the map, Chimecho gave me. It was very detailed. The tents were exaclty placed where they were in reality.

The name of every shop and facility was written below them.

I looked around. There was the Duskull Bank, Electrivire's Link-Shop, Chancey's Daycare and Marowak's Dojo.

I could see some other markets and buildings in the distance. There was a little bridge, leading to another part of town.

The map told me that Kecleon's Shop, Kangashkan's Storage and Xatu's Appraisal could be found there.

'Kecleon's Shop?... Oh no.' I remembered what I had done to a Kecleon a couple of days ago. 'Please, don't be the same guy.'

I pushed the thought to the back of my head and headed towards the dojo.

Standing in front of it, I examined the buildings features. It was mainly made out of rocks. A huge Marowak skull was hanging above the entrance. The roof was decorated with several feathers. Though I had never seen feathers this big before. 'That bird must've been huge.'

I knocked onto the wooden door, leading into the building. Almost immediately, the door shot open, nearly hitting me in the face.

An excited looking Marowak was now in front me.

"A visitor! Hello, and welcome to Marowak's Dojo!" its voice was male.

"Please come in!" he said, leading me through the doorway.

The inside of the dojo looked completely different from the outside. It had a wooden floor and walls. In the middle of the room was a little field, with white lines on it. A battlefield. On the other side of the room was a pair of stairs leading to the next floor. I guessed that Marowak's living quarters were up there. In one corner of the room, stood a few wooden dummies and a couple of sandbags were hanging from the ceiling.

All of it seemed familiar somehow. The field, the dummies... I had seen this whole scenery somewhere before.

My head began to hurt, all of a sudden. Pictures of memories shot through my head.

_A strange building was in front of me. A had a wooden framework with white walls between the boards. It looked like your stereotypical dojo. My vision floated closer to it. Around me, other people were walking in the same direction. They were humans. It had a sign with a name over the entrance but when my vision turned onto it, everything began to flicker and with that, the scenery changed._

_Another building. This time I was already inside it. A courtyard was in front of me. Two battlefields were drawn onto the ground and next to them stood a few training dummies. My vision turned around me and revealed the all to well known black flickering smoke from my other visions. When my whole vision was occupied again, the memory ended.  
_

I had to take a breath after I was back in reality.

'Humans... Other humans... That means, I really am a human. A dojo... Does that mean that I trained Martial Arts when I was human?... Well, I guess that explains why I had no problem when I fought those Electrike... Maybe that is also why I want to match me with every strong pokemon I come across.'_  
_

"Hey! Riolu, are you okay?" Marowak asked concerned. "You looked absent for a second..."

"Huh? Yes. Just felt dizzy for a moment." I replied. "Oh, and call me Ri."

"So what brings you to my dojo? Do you want to work on your attacks? Stamina training? Work-out?" the ground-type's eyes were shining brightly and he was getting closer to me with every question.

I had to push him away when his skull was almost in my face.

"I would love to try out all of that, but I promised Chimecho to keep it easy for the next three days." I explained, pointing at the bandage on my chest.

He turned sad, when he understood that I could not train with him. Almost depressed.

"Chimecho? Oh, so you are with the guild." Marowak's expression turned normal again. "So, what brings you here then?"

"Well... Chimecho mentioned that there is an anomaly in my aura. She said that you could tell me more about it." I answered.

"Aura? Yes, I can help you with that." he said, closing his eyes.

He then held up his hand and pointed it towards my direction. It began to emit a faint blue glow.

"Well, there is nothing wrong with..." the ground-type stopped all of sudden. His eyes shot open and were now fixed on me. His mouth was wide open and overall he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"... A... Aura Garment." he stuttered, taking a step back.

"What do you mean?" I was a little startled by his weird behavior.

It took Marowak a minute before he calmed down again.

"First of all... Your aura is a little different from other Riolu I have met before, but otherwise it's completely normal." he explained. "And what Chimecho assumed to be an anomaly, was just your Aura Garment."

"And what is that thing?" I asked, still not having an idea what he meant.

"Wait... You don't know what Aura Garment is?" Marowak replied, now looking confused. "It is a secret technique that only a few of your species are able to learn. Through a thin layer of dense aura around the user, it increases the capacity of usable aura. Through meditation and other training methods the user has to put the maintaining of the "garment" into his subconsciousness. After the training, keeping up the technique is like breathing."

'So that's why I have so much aura...'

"But, you should already know that.", he continued.

"Uhm... I have amnesia, so... I don't." I replied.

"Oh, sorry. Amnesia, huh? When did you lose your memory?" he asked with a concerned look.

"Well, everything before I joined the guild is really foggy..." I lied.

"That's too bad. But from you knowing Aura Garment, we can assume that you spent at least a few months on learning it." he replied with a smile.

'A few months? At which point in time did I come out from the time travel? And if it really was that long before Grovyle... Then why did I wait so long before looking for the Time Gears?'

"Thank you... And about the training and work-out... Well, I will visit you again when I'm fit again. I would love to work on my moves." I said, smiling at him.

"No,no,no! I have to thank you. You don't come across somebody who is able to use such a high-level technique!" he replied, returning my smile. "To think that Aura Garment is still in your subconsciousness after loosing your memories is amazing. I can't wait to see your other abilities!"

"Hehe, you are not going to be disappointed." I said with a grin. 'Maybe he can tell me more about my other attacks, too.'

I said goodbye to him and headed towards the door. I left the building and walked back to he main square.

* * *

'What now? Should I head towards the café immediately or take a look at the other part of the town?' I debated in my head.

'Hmm... Maybe I should check out Kecleon's Shop... If the guy I met in the jungle really is there... I better make contact with him alone. I bet that Lya and Ozu will show me the rest of the town someday and if Lya is present when that Keckleon recognizes me...'

With that I headed towards the bridge leading to the other part of Treasure Town. After walking over the small river flowing through the town, I found a tent to my right. It looked like a Keckleon and in front of it was a long table with several goods on it.

I approached the shop and found two Kecleon standing behind the table. One was green, like the one I had seen before and the other one was purple. They were checking on a couple of boxes. 'Probably a new shipment.'

When they noticed my presence they turned around.

"Hello! Welcome to Kecleon's Shop!" they said in union. "How can we help you?"

My eyes were fixed on the green one. It looked exactly like the Kecleon I had met several days ago. 'Dammit.'

"Uhm... I'm new to town and joined the guild a couple of days ago. I have three days off and they allowed me to check out the town." I explained, still looking at the green chameleon.

"Oh, If you are new to the guild, then let me explain what wares you can expect to buy from us." the purple Kecleon replied.

The other one was giving me a weird look. 'It's him...'

"My brother here sells most of the items that are necessary for every explorer! Berries, Seeds, Gummies and other equipment." he continued. "And I'm the right person if you are looking for any kind of orb."

I nodded in response.

"Hey, I have seen you before." the green one suddenly spoke up.

Sweat was forming on my forehead. 'What am I supposed to do now? Tell him the truth and say that I'm sorry? ...Wait, if I come back here with Lya and he talks about it again... Dammit! I have to lie again.'

"Really? This is my first time I visit the town and I don't remember seeing you before." I replied, trying not to sound nervous.

"Don't try to fool me again, you look exactly like the Riolu that tricked me at Southern Jungle." he continued. 'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'

"What?! This is her?" the purple one threw in.

"Sorry to disappoint you but I haven't been there before... I think." I said, rubbing my chin.

"You think? What are you talking about?" the Kecleon was getting annoyed.

"I have amnesia. I woke up at the guild a couple of days ago... The last thing I remembered was being hit by a Warp Orb." I explained. "By the way, what am I supposed to have done to you anyway?"

"That Riolu used Attract on me to get a cheaper price for one of my Wondermaps." the normal-type answered angrily.

"Really? Are you really sure that it was a Riolu and not another Pokemon? Most of my species live in the mountains and not in the jungle." I replied.

"Of course I'm sure that it was a Riolu! Don't try to blame another Pokemon." he was getting really angry now. 'Dammit! He's convinced that it was me. What now? Hmm... I will keep going with the amnesia.'

"Uhm... Sorry. Actually, it could have been me." I said, looking at the ground. "I do know Attract and... To think that I could have done something like that just..."

"I knew it!" the green Kecleon yelled. "Wretched thief! I should call Magnezone immediately."

"Brother! Don't be like that.", the purple one tried to calm down his brother. "She doesn't look like a bad Pokemon. It isn't even proven that she is the same Riolu. She doesn't even know if she really did it and is still sorry. Also, that Riolu didn't steal your Wondermap it paid you seven hundred Poke, remember?"

I raised my head again.

"I know, but..." the green chameleon didn't know what it should say.

"And our Wondermaps normally cost five hundred... Just because you weren't at the shop, doesn't mean that you can charge an extra fee." the purple one continued.

'FIVE HUNDRED!? And he doubled the price just because he was traveling at that time?! Greedy bastard!' I raged in my head. But on the outside I still tried to look as sorry as possible.

"Okay, okay, I get it... Somehow I deserved it." the green one admitted.

"Uhm... Am I in trouble now?" I asked, getting their attention again.

"Hey, you don't even remember doing it... If it was really you in the first place. And if it was you... Well, let's just forget about the whole incident and start new." the purple one offered happily. 'Whew! That went better than I expected.'

"Thank you! I'm Ri, by the way." I replied, smiling at them.

"I'm Porpo and this is my little brother Verd" Porpo said, pointing at his pointing brother.

"Now that we handled that situation, let's get back to business! Can I interest you in some of our wares?" he carried on.

"Maybe next time... I will probably come back with my friends then. Bye!" I said, turning towards the bridge.

"See, ya!" they replied.

* * *

Back at the middle part of town, I debated where to head next. 'Hmm... Now that that is out of the way, what next? Go back to the guild? The cafe?'

Feeling a little thirsty, I decided to finally check out the café.

I went back to the crossroad. When I wanted to head towards the stairs, leading into the shop, I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, that's the Riolu that beat up my cousin!" a male voice yelled.

When I turned around, I saw a Manetric and a Darumaka in front of me.

"You still have some of the smell from my tribe on you!" the Manetric continued. 'What the?'

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm the guy who's going to beat you up, for beating up his little cousin." the electric-type growled at me.

"I'm sorry, but you got the wrong girl..." I replied, trying to avoid a fight.

"Don't try to deny it! It's faint, but the smell is there!" the Manetric was persistent. 'It's been a couple of weeks since I fought those Electrike. How can I still have their scent on me?'

"Okay, okay... I fought some Electrike a while ago, but I swear that they attacked first!" I admitted.

"There we go... My cousin also told me that you weren't alone back then. Where is that Grov..."

He gasped when I was suddenly right in front of his face. I was still hurt, but already able to use Extremespeed again. It resulted in a little stinging on my back but I ignored it.

"Don't, talk about him. You can let out your stupid revenge on me but, don't you ever mention him again." I said coldly, staring directly into his eyes.

He was getting terrified by my sudden change of attitude. Taking a step back, his aggressive expression was blown away.

"Whoa, don't go all crazy on me like that!" he responded, taking another step back. "You are injured, so I will let you get away with it this time. But if you ever hurt somebody from my family again, I will really make you pay. Come on, Mak! We're leaving."

"Yessir!" the fire-type replied.

And with that they walked past me and headed out of treasure town.

I looked at them, until they finally disappeared behind the horizon.

'Whew... That was close!' A sigh of relief escaped my mouth.

* * *

I was finally able to check out the café after so many complications.

Walking down the staircase revealed a big room with wooden floor and walls. A few tables and seats were scattered around the room and at the other side were two bars. The only other Pokemon inside the room were a Spinda, a Wynaut and a female Wobbuffet. I could tell by the red lipstick around it's mouth.

"Oh, a guest!" the Spinda said when I walked into the room. It sounded male. "I haven't seen you here before... New to town?"

"Well, my name is Ri and I joined the guild a couple of days ago." I explained.

"Oh, you are an explorer then! Can't go your missions because of your injury?" he asked, pointing at my bandage.

"Yes, I have to rest for the next three days." I answered.

"You can come to my café whenever you want! We offer a lot of different food and special shakes." the Spinda replied.

"Thank you! Uhm... I feel kind of thirsty. What drinks do you offer?" I asked.

The Spinda responded by leading me to the right bar. A lot of berries and other ingredients were placed on a table behind the bar.

"Well, you are injured, so I would recommend an Oran Shake." he said, picking up a few Oran berries from the table.

In a matter of seconds, a blue drink with ice in it was placed in front of me.

"Here, the first one is for free!" the normal-type said happily. When he said "free", I remembered that I didn't have any money with me in the first place. 'Lucky me.'

"Thanks a lot!" I said, grabbing the glass. I examined the blue liquid for a second before I gulped it down.

It was amazing. It had the sweetness and sourness from the Oran berry juice, but the ice gave it a refreshing flavour.

"That was great." I said, putting the glass back.

"So what do plan on doing in those next three days? As I said before, you can spend your time here whenever you want." the Spinda tried to keep up our conversation.

"I don't know yet... I would love to train at Marowak's Dojo, but..." I answered.

"Oh, you are a fighting-type... It's only natural for you to like training." he replied. "Well, there are no other customers right now, so if you really like to learn new moves, I can show you a little trick of mine."

"A trick?" I was getting curious. 'Does he want to teach me a new move or something?'

"You don't have to use physical training to learn it, so it won't hinder your body from healing." he continued. "Ever heard of Own Tempo?"

"Own Tempo?" I had heard that name somewhere before.

"Yes, it's a special ability that my species has. We use it subconsciously all the time, but you could probably use it too if you concentrated on it. It makes it impossible for you to get confused." Spinda explained.

"Confused?" I remembered the time when I had stepped onto a spinning trap and Grovyle had to stop me from walking onto it again.

"Yes, if you know that your enemy is using moves that are able to confuse you, just use the technique and they won't be able to affect you. It's a nice defensive ability to have." he continued. "Those attack overload your brain with information, making it hard for you to focus. By using Own Tempo, you cut down you brain activity before the moves hit you, so your brain will be able to process them without mixing up anything."

"That's awesome!" I replied, getting excited to learn this new technique.

Spinda proceed by teaching me the basic concept of using the move. I had to keep calm, while he tried to distract in every way possible.

We kept on training for about three hours. However, we couldn't continue because the explorers which were on their missions all day, were coming back.

After a couple of minutes the café was crowded with many other pokemon, so I decided to head back to the guild. It was getting a little too loud for me in there.

I said good-bye to Spinda and left the café.

* * *

Outside again I walked up the stairs in front of the guild again. When I was in front of the tent, a wooden grate was blocking the entrance. When I walked over the grid on the ground, a voice surprised me.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" a familiar voice yelled from below me. It sounded like Diglett.

"WHO'S FOOTPRINT IS IT?!" a voice so loud, that it only could have been Loudred, yelled.

"It's a Riolu's footprint! I think it's Ri!" Diglett answered.

"RI? OKAY, I WILL OPEN THE GATE!" Loudred replied.

And just as he said it, the grate in in front of me opened. 'Aaah, now I understand what this hole is there for. They use it to identify every visitor.'

I entered the guild and climbed down to the second floor. I walked into the sleeping quarters and opened the door to my teams room.

The third bed was still there. On the little table that was in the corner of the room stood a few items. I approached it to check them out.

It was my pouch and a few other items. A red scarf, another small bag I haven't seen before and a badge. The badge looked like an egg with a gemstone in the middle. The sides were decorated with little wings.

I grabbed my pouch and attached it to my leg.

Just then I heard Loudred's voice, coming from the main room.

"WHO'S FOOTPRINT IS IT?!" he yelled again. "OZU AND LYA? OKAY, I'LL OPEN THE GATE!"

'Oh, they are back. Should I go out and greet them or just wait for them to come to our room?'

I decided to greet them and headed back to the main hall. They were just climbing down the stairs, when I came out of the hallway.

"Hi!" I said, walking up to them.

"Hello, Ri!" they replied with a smile.

"So, how was your mission?" I asked curiously.

"It was great! We will tell, you everything about it later. I want to show you something first." Ozu replied, leading me back to our room.

They put most of their equipment on the ground and walked to the table.

Ozu picked up the red scarf and pouch and handed them over to me. "Here, those are for you!" he said with a smile.

"Why are you giving me this?" I asked a little confused now.

"Well, you are a offical member of our team, so you need proper equipment." he replied with a smile. "Just see it as a little gift from your friends!"

'He really isn't mad at me. But why?'

"Ozu... I... don't know if I can accept those presents." I said looking at the ground.

"Sure you can! Without you, we wouldn't have stood a chance against that Groudon! You are an important asset to our team!" he was persistent. "I already told you before, that you can forget what happened afterwards. It never happened, okay?"

"Ri, just take them." Lya threw in.

I sighed and grabbed them. I then proceeded by attaching the new pouch on the back of my hip. I used the same method Lya was using with hers. At first I wanted to bind the scarf around my neck, but I suddenly decided to wrap it around my right upper arm. I placed it right below my shoulder. Two long strips of cloth were hanging down the backside of my arm. The feeling was familiar somehow.

"You look like a real explorer now!" Ozu cheered. "All that it left now, is you badge."

He then turned around and grabbed the little badge I had seen earlier.

"This is your explorer badge! It offically identifies you as a member of the guild." he explained, handing it over to me.

"Thank you..." I replied, still not able to believe how nice he was.

"Hey, why don't we show her the beach?" Lya asked all of sudden. "We still have time before dinner starts."

"That's a great idea!" Ozu answered. "Come on, Ri! You will love the view!"

We headed out of the guild and found ourselves at the crossroad again.

* * *

They lead me straight ahead and after a couple minutes of walking, a beach was in front of us.

We walked along the water for a while, when they suddenly stopped me. They sat down onto the sand... I did the same.

"At sunset, a few Krabby come out here and use their Bubble. The bubbles look gorgeous when they reflect the orange light fom the sun." Ozu explained. "It's a great way to lift up your mood when you don't feel so good."

"Well, the sea by itself is already beautiful." I replied, looking out into the ocean.

"It sure is... So, Ri? How was your day?" Lya asked.

"Not that exciting." I answered, rubbing the back of my head.

I proceeded by telling them about my visit to Marowak's Dojo, the Aura Garment, my visit to Kecleon's Shop and the training in Spinda's café.

I let out the incident with the Manetric and my little argument with the Verd and Purpo of course.

"... then I heard Loudred call your names, so I decided to go back to the main hall to wait for you." I finished.

"Well, our day wasn't that exciting either... We just had to recover a lost sitrus berry." Ozu replied.

The Pikachu poked the Chimchar's side all of a sudden. "Shouldn't we ask her now?"

"Oh, yeah..." His voice got serious. "Hey, Ri..."

"What's wrong?" I asked curiously.

"Uhm... Do you still want to find your friend? I mean you only came on the expedition to find him, so..." he siad with a sad expression on his face.

'I have already decided what I will do next...'

"Hey, we might find him on one of our explorations one day... I will stay with you until I find him." I answered with a smile.

They seemed to be happy with my decision.

We kept on staring into the ocean for a couple of minutes before I spoke up again.

"Hey, is this the beach you found Lya at?" I asked Ozu curiously.

"Yes, it was over there." he answered, pointing towards the end of the beach. There was something like a cave entrance.

"Uhm... Ri, there is something I want to talk about with you. It kind of fits into the amnesia topic..." Ozu suddenly got serious again. "Lya, could you wait at the guild for us?"

The Pikachu gave him a confused look, before she nodded. She got up and headed back towards the guild. I caught her turning around one last time, giving me a look that said "Don't try anything stupid!".

I faced the Chimchar again. "What is it?"

"Back at the lake, when you were unconscious... There was a weird symbol on your hand." he said, pointing at my right paw.

'He saw it? Dammit! I wanted to hide it.'

"Uhm... Yea, I have noticed it too." I replied, looking at my paw.

"I think that the other guild members didn't see the it. They were busy, carrying you back to the base camp. When we left Fogbound Lake, it disappeared." he carried on. "It took me a while to figure it out, but I have seen the symbol somewhere else."

"Really? Where?" I was getting curious again.

"Ri... It looked exactly like the Time Gear at the bottom of the lake." he finished.

'He is right! But... I think I already know what it is. The Dimesional Scream. Grovyle said that it... Uhm... what exactly did he say?'

Trying to remember, I brought my hand up to my chin, rubbing it. Ozu gave me a confused look.

'Hmm... he said that it was a ability that let me find the timegears... Ugh, I have forgotten how I did it... He never mentioned a weird symbol on my hand, that's for sure. He said something about... visions! Visions that let me see the places that were connected to the Time Gears! Wait...'

"Ri? Are you okay?" Ozu was getting concerned because of my absence.

'I don't think that my memory shreds had something to do with a Time Gear... Normally it's just my instinct, forcing out the memory of a move. But, if those aren't the visions Grovyle was talking about, then what are they?'

**BGM: Id (Sorrow) - Fire Emblem Awakening**

I gasped and my eyes shot open, when I realized.

Ozu responded with a worried look.

'It's her! She has vision from the past and the future! Her name is Riley, she used to be human and she has the Dimensional Scream! But if she is the real Riley...'

My whole idea of identity shattered at that moment.

...

A feeling of depression overcame me and my head sunk towards the ground.

"Who am I?" I mumbled under my breath.

"Ri? What's wrong? Did you figure something out?" Ozu asked as he grabbed my shoulder.

'My name... The mission... The partner... Everything isn't mine.'

Tears were forming at the corner of my eyes again. And with them, anger came too.

I pushed Ozu's hand off my shoulder and turned away from him. I rubbed my eyes with my paw in order to dry the tears off.

"Ri? Are you okay?" he sounded really concerned now.

"I... don't know who I am anymore." I sobbed, putting my hand down again.

"What do you mean?" he was getting confused again.

"I just realized that everything I know is a lie." My voice was still shaky.

"I don't know who I am, where I come from... It's just..." I continued. More tears were coming and I was simply getting frustrated by now.

When my anger wasn't able to hold me back any longer and I was just about to fall to my knees and burst out in tears, Ozu walked behind me and grabbed my shoulder again.

"Hey, don't lose the faith in yourself." he said in a calm voice.

My eyes shot open when I heard those words.

'Faith...'

I turned around. Where Ozu should be have been was now a black flickering figure. I grit my teeth as my head began to hurt like it was about to explode.

'This isn't a memory... Ugh.'

"Did you hear me?" the figure said with Ozu's voice.

The headache was joined by a light headed feeling as the blackness began to occupy my vision again. 'What...'

"Ri? Ri!"

My vision turned completely black.

_Don't lose the faith in yourself..._

That was the last thing my mind could process in the darkness, before I lost consciousness.

**Stop music**

* * *

**End of Chapter - 7**


	8. Being a friend

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Being a friend  
**

* * *

"Ri! Ri! Wake up! Please!" a voice yelled.

When I slowly came back to myself, I felt that I was laying on some sand. My head was still spinning and my senses were dulled.

"Ugh..." I tried to move my body, but it only resulted in only more dizziness.

"Ri?" the voice said again. I recognized it as Ozu's.

I opened my eyes and found a blurry orange circle in front of me. My eyes slowly adjusted themselves and the circle turned into the worried face of a Chimchar.

"Ozu?" I asked groggy.

"Holy Arceus! I'm so glad that you are okay." he said as his worried expression turned into a smile.

"What happened?" the dizzy feeling slowly faded away.

"You said that ou didn't know who you are anymore and other strange thing... When I tried to cheer you up, looked at me really weird and passed out all of a sudden." he explained.

"I... remember..." I replied, feeling depressed again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked with concern in his voice.

'What do I want? Everything I wanted before was to help Grovyle on his mission... But what do "I" want? Whoever that might be...'

I broke eye contact with the fire-type.

'Do I still want to help, even if I'm not "her"?'

...

'Yes. It might not be "my" mission but it's the only purpose I've got right now.'

A sigh escaped my mouth.

'I'm not Grovyle's real partner but I still have to help him... It doesn't even matter that I'm not Riley.'

The depressed feeling was slowly fading again.

'I am the person who promised to help Grovyle on his mission...'

...

'But... I'm also...'

A smirk formed on my face.

...

"Thank you." I replied, sitting up.

He was getting confused again.

"What for? Ri! Explain yourself!" he asked.

...

"For being my friend." I replied with a smile.

My answer perplexed him.

'I'm also Ri... A member of Team Ignition... That's at least one identity that really is mine.'

"I'm okay again. Our conversation just made me think about some bad things and well..." I got up from the ground.

"Let's just say that I finally figured out who I have to be."

"I still don't understand..." Ozu's voice was still full of worry.

"That's everything I will tell you for now." I replied.

"Ri... I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on. Please!" he was getting sad from my silence.

"I'm sorry that I have to keep a secret from you but I want to keep this to myself for a while longer..." I explained.

His head sunk towards the ground.

"Hey! Don't be like that! It might not look like it, but you really helped me a lot." I tried to cheered him up, grabbing his shoulder.

He made eye contact with me again.

"Thank you." I said, giving him a smile.

After a short moment of hesitation, he returned it.

"I'm sorry that I spaced out like that before... What did you want me to tell me about the symbol on my paw?" I asked trying to end the conversation about my weird behavior.

"It's..." He stopped for a moment. It looked like if he was debating about something. "Nothing... I just wanted to tell you that I noticed it on your paw..."

I didn't buy it. His eyes were telling me something different. He knew more than that it just looked like a timegear. But if I kept a secret from him, what takes his right to do the same. Maybe he just didn't want to put any more stress on me.

"Well, I don't know what it is either... Maybe we will find out one day." I replied, not mentioning that I knew that he was hiding something.

...

"Do you want to talk about something else or should we head back to the guild? Dinner should be ready soon." he asked, looking at the position of the sun.

"Let's grab some dinner..." I said, walking past him, back towards the guild. "After that I need to talk to you and Lya..."

* * *

We didn't talk on our way back. The gate to the guild was open this time, meaning that we didn't have to go through the procedure of walking on top of the "Identification Grid" again.

When we climbed down to the first floor, we could see that the rest of the guild members had returned from their missions. We greeted everyone and proceeded by climbing down to the second floor.

Lya was chatting with Chatot when we reached the ground.

We approached them.

"Oh, you are back! What did you talk about?" Lya asked curiously.

Ozu gave me a short look before he answered. "Uhm... Ri will tell you after dinner."

The Pikachu gave me a suspicious look before she responded with a nod.

"Oh, now that you mention it. It's almost Dinnertime. Would one of you be so kind and tell Chimecho to call everyone?" Chatot asked politely.

"Sure, I'll tell her." Lya replied, walking towards the stairs.

...

After a while, Chimecho floated down from the upper floor and flew into the hallway, leading to the Dinning Hall.

She let out a loud clinging noise, informing everyone about Dinnertime.

Ozu, Lya and I entered the room. A huge table was in the middle of it. Several stools were scattered around it. Plates and baskets with berries and apples were already placed on the table.

Just then I realized that I didn't have a proper dinner ever since Grovyle found me.

They walked over to what I assume were their usual seats. I followed and sat down on the chair next to Ozu.

It took less than a minute for the other members to come into the dinning hall and sit down too.

Chatot held a little speech, where he reviewed the events of the day, before he allowed everyone to dig in.

I immediately grabbed a few apples from one of the bowls. Just like usual, they I consumed them only in a matter of seconds. When I had finished the fourth one and threw it's core onto my plate, I noticed that everyone was staring at me.

...

I swallowed the remaining bits in my mouth. "Uhm... Is something wrong?" I asked, getting uncomfortable by their stares. They didn't respond.

One look stood out from the rest. Loudred wasn't looking at me but at my plate.

I looked at his plate and saw three apple cores. Looking at the other guild members revealed that they hadn't even finished a single one of their apples.

'Oh, I get what's going on here!'

I faced Loudred again. Both of us knew what the other one was thinking.

'If you want a competition, you can have one!'

Then it began. Loudred and me grabbed as many apples as we could from the bowls. We gave each other one final look before we ate the apples in front of us as fast as we could.

The other guild members began to cheer and applause as we tried to keep up with each other. I was in front with eight apples but the normal-type was quickly catching up to me, now that he knew that he had to do his best.

The completion ended when both of us fell off our chairs, due to the over saturation.

My stomach felt like it could burst any second. I looked at my belly and noticed that it had grown twice in size.

Ozu and Lya helped me back on my feet again. I could see that Sunflora and Corphish did the same with Loudred.

Everybody was silent when Ozu began to count the cores on our plates.

"Thirteen... Fourteen!... Fifteen! Ri wins with fifteen to thirteen!" he announced.

The other guild members were cheering at me, making me kind of embarrassed. I slowly walked to the other side of the table and faced the defeated Loudred. He looked at me jealously.

I smiled and reached my right paw out to him. "I can't wait for the next dinner!"

He accepted the handshake. "Me neither!" he replied with a smile.

Everybody laughed for a bit until Chatot spoke up again.

"I have to admit that this was quite a show, but remember that our guild has a limited budget. We can't buy that much food everyday just that you can see who is able to eat more... " he explained.

...

A smile formed on his face. "We might repeat it on special occasions though!"

His last comment raised the laughter again.

* * *

Everybody finished their meals and made their way to the sleeping quarters.

Upon entering Ozu's, Lya's and my room, I simply walked over my bed and dropped my probably twice as heavy body onto it.

"That was fun!" I said, sitting up.

"I can't believe how fast you ate those apples! And so many too!" Ozu commented.

"I've only see Loudred do something like that before." Lya added.

"Hehe! Yes, he is a worthy opponent... And I though the only people able to eat like that were me and..." A jolt of pain rushed through my head, stopping me to continue my sentence. I held my paw up to my head in response.

"Whoa, Ri! What's wrong?" Ozu was getting worried again.

The pain left as quickly as it came.

"Ugh... I just had a little headache all of a sudden." I explained, opening my eyes and putting my hand down again.

In front of me were a concerned Chimchar and a Pikachu who's look was more confused than concerned.

"Ri... That looked oddly familiar." Ozu replied with a worried voice. "Are you sure that you are okay?"

I knew exactly what he was getting at.

"No, it's nothing like it... I just had a headache, really!" I said, trying to calm him down.

"Familiar? What are you talking about?" the confused Pikachu asked.

Ozu looked at me like he was asking for a permission to bring up the topic.

I nodded and spoke up. "Lya... Or no... Riley. Back at the beach Ozu asked me a few questions and they made me remember some bad things."

When I called her Riley, her expression turned a little more serious than confused.

"Okay, I will tell you everything I want you to know for now. My real name isn't Riley.", I explained in a serious tone. "I thought that it was mine, because it was the first one I remembered. Maybe because I heard it when I was unconcious... Ozu's questions made me remember some stuff that proofed it to be wrong. And sorry, I won't tell you what I remembered. Not for now."

It took them a while to process it.

"So... If your name isn't Riley? What should we call you then?" Lya was getting confused again.

"Just keep on calling me Ri." I answered with a smile. "That's the only name I have right now."

They nodded in response.

"Oh, and now that we know that you are the only Riley here, you can have your name rights again!" I added with a grin.

"Ugh... Now I have to tell everyone to call me by my old name again." the Pikachu frowned.

I responded with a laugh.

"Hey, Ozu. Thank you, again." I faced the Chimchar again.

"I'm still worried about all of this. I will say it again too, we can't help you if you don't tell us what's going on in your head..." he replied with a somewhat sad voice. "Don't you trust us?"

"I do trust you. But this is something that I have to handle on my own. I promise that I will tell you someday." I answered.

His expression was still a little sad, but my promise lifted his mood again.

I yawned, trying to indicate that I wanted to put this conversation to rest and get some sleep.

They understood and sat onto their beds. They then removed the remaining gear on them. Riley took off her scarf and Ozu pulled his goggles from is head.

Seeing this, remembered me about my own equipment. I got up, put my two pouches and the cloth wrapped around my arm off and placed them back on our table.

I then walked back to my bed and let myself fall on it again.

"Good night." I said as I closed my eyes.

"Good night." my friends returned.

...

My belly still hurt a little from eating fifteen apples but luckily the feeling was also making me tired. After a couple of minutes of stirring around in my bed I finally drifted into slumber.

* * *

Loudred's wake up call woke me up next morning. I still couldn't understand how my friends have gotten used to it. When I sat up and looked at Loudred, he gave me a smile, which I happily returned. His belly was still blown up from our little showdown.

He walked back into the hallway. As I got up, I noticed that my belly had already gotten its normal size back.

'Thanks, digestive system!' I cheered in my head.

Ozu, Riley and I made ourselves ready and headed to the morning briefing.

...

Chatot usual morning speech motivated everyone and shook the remaining bits of sleep out of my mind.

"HURRAY!" the whole guild cheered, before they headed up the ladder.

I said good-bye to my friends, just as Chatot called me over to him.

"Ri, you should visit Chimecho for another medical check. After that come to the guildmasters office, we have a job for you today." he ordered in a serious tone.

I nodded and headed towards the infirmary.

Chimecho was just about to start with some paperwork when I walked into the room.

She floated over to me and instructed me to sit down on the chair from last time again.

Just like last time she used her psychic powers again to check my body.

...

"Um... Other than a completely full bowel, you are fine." she giggled. I responded with a wide grin.

"I will give you some more sitrus berries for your bone though." she continued, levitating two sitrus berries in front of me.

"Thank you!" I replied, grabbing them from the air.

"Was Marowak able to tell you what the anomaly was?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, it was just an ability I have. Aura Garment." I answered, biting into the first berry.

"Aura Garment? I have never heard of an ability like that." she turned confused.

"Well, Marowak told me that it enables me to use more aura." I explained, taking another bite.

"Um... So the hull of aura around your body is nothing to worry about? Well, that's good to hear." she sighed in relief.

"When I visit him again, I will ask him some more questions about that whole aura thing. Maybe he has an explanation why I almost lost all of it at the lake." I said, finishing the berry.

I quickly ate other sitrus berry, thanked Chimecho and left the infirmary.

I followed Chatot's instruction from earlier and approached the guildmasters room. I knocked on the door three times and shortly after that, Chatot called me in.

"Oh! Hello there apple friend!" Wigglytuff greeted me.

"I assume that everything went well with Chimecho." Chatot said as I closed the door.

I nodded and walked up to the desk.

"I have an important meeting with one of our clients, so I need you to help the guildmaster with filing the missions for tomorrow." he explained, handing some papers to me. 'Those are the missions that we pin onto the bulletin boards everyday. You have to make a summary of the request letters the federation sent us and write down the client, objective, area, difficulty and reward on those papers."

'Paper work? Uuuugh...' I frowned in my head.

"Chatot, that is soooo boooring!" Wigglytuff protested. "Why can't I just go on an easy mission with her or... or...?"

"Guildmaster! Please don't be difficult again! If we don't do them, our apprentices won't have any jobs for tomorrow!" he interrupted the fairy-type.

"Unfair." Wigglytuff sulked.

Chatot noticed my not so excited expression. "Ri, please take this task seriously. If you hurry up, you should be done within three hours."

'Three hours?!' My mental frown changed into a growl.

"I will be back after noon... And please, keep and eye on the guild master." he commanded, walking out of the room.

An awkward silence entered the room when the flying-type closed the door. The guildmaster and I just looked at each other.

...

"Uhm... Should we get started?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"If you had a free day, where would you go now?" His carefree nature had turned into a serious one all of a sudden.

His change in attitude startled me for a moment.

"Uhm... I would probably visit Marowak at his dojo. Why do you ask guildmaster?" I answered, still feeling a little uneasy.

"Well... If I would coincidentally go there, you would have to follow me, because Chatot ordered you to keep and eye on me. Right?" he asked, still serious with every word.

"Are you planning what I think you are planning?" I asked, realizing what he was trying to say.

He responded with a wide grin... I was starting to like this guy.

"You are a wise man, guildmaster!" I complimented him with a smile.

"My friend, call me Wigglytuff!" he replied happily.

* * *

We waited for a couple of minutes before we headed out of the room. Making sure that nobody noticed us, we left the guild and made our way to Marowak's dojo.

I knocked onto the door and just like yesterday, the door shot open immediately. A Marowak with wide shining eyes was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Ri! You came back and..." He gasped when he saw my companion.

"The guildmaster! What brings me the honor?" Marowak asked with his eyes fixed on the pink fairy-type.

"My friend here has to keep an eye on me and I coincidentally decided to visit your dojo!" Wigglytuff said with a smile.

'I still can't believe he came up with this.'

Wigglytuffs answer confused him. He looked at me in hope of more information.

"Yup, Chatot ordered me to take care of him. I have to follow his every move!" I said mischievously.

He was completely perplexed when we simply walked past him and entered the dojo.

The familiar feeling overcame me again when I saw the battlefields and the dummies.

I walked up to the field.

"Uhm... What is the reason behind your visit?" Marowak asked as he closed the door. He looked at Wigglytuff but received no answer.

I turned around and noticed that the fairy-type was looking at me. Understanding that he wanted to know the reason too, I spoke up.

"Well, I was hoping if you could tell me something about my moves..." I explained.

"Wait, didn't you say yesterday that you can't train because of your injury?" he asked.

"I don't really want to train them, I just want to know more about them..." I answered. "My moves and abilities aren't exactly normal for a Riolu..."

"Not normal? What moves can you use then?" he asked, getting curious.

"I think showing is better than telling." I said, walking onto the training field.

Marowak and Wigglytuff were eager to find out what move I would show them.

I put my paws in front of me and concentrated my aura into them.

Marowak's eyes widened when he realized what move I was about to use.

I created a bone between my paws and broke it in half. I spun my batons around as usual, before I got into the stance Grovyle showed me.

"Hurray! Amazing! Beautiful!" the fairy-type cheered.

I looked at Marowak. His mouth was wide open and his left hand was pointing at me.

"Bone Rush?!" He was astonished. "And that stance..."

"My stance?" I asked, being a little confused by his last comment.

Marowak lowered his hand again.

"Attack one of my dummies." he ordered blankly.

"Uhm... Okay..." I replied, facing one of the wooden dolls.

'Hmm, should I use Extremespeed right away or just show him some of my basic movements?', I thought, getting ready to attack the wooden doll.

I decided not to use Extremespeed for my demonstration. If I combined the movements from Grovyle's fighting-style with it, my back could have begun to hurt again.

I dashed towards the dummy with my normal speed and brought my right bone forward, aiming for the side of the stomach. When I hit it, I could see a few pieces of wood fly into the air. I continued by quickly dashing around the dummy, jumped up into the air behind it and hit the back of its neck with my other baton.

I landed on my feet and let my bones disappear. I then walked back to Marowak and Wigglytuff.

"You are really strong, friend!" Wigglytuff complimented me. I smiled at him and rubbed the back of my head.

When I faced Marowak again, I could see a serious look on his face.

"Who taught you the Gavylian-style?" he asked curiously.

"Gavylian-style?" I replied. "So that's what it's called."

I obviously couldn't tell them that Grovyle taught me, what meant that I had to use my old amnesia excuse again.

"Well... I'm sorry. Again, I don't remember. I do know what the main idea behind that style is though." I continued.

"Really?" Marowak's voice was getting worried for some reason.

"Yes. Getting to your enemy's weak points, hitting them with he Gallade-style, blah, blah, blah..." I answered.

He gave me a worried look.

"That's not exactly it." he said in a serious tone. "The real idea is to reach the vital points of your enemies and kill them in one blow."

My eyes widened upon hearing this.

...

"K...kill?" I stuttered, not able to believe what I just heard.

"Yes, it was created by a clan of assassins. Their members are said to be very gruesome in finishing their contracts." he continued.

'Kill another living being?... I... Could I even do something like that?' My stomach began to feel sick and my breath began to tremble.

"I don't know how, but I assume that you had a connection..." The ground-type stopped when he noticed my shocked response. "Are you alright?"

"No... This isn't right... I... Taking somebody's life isn't an option. Never!" I managed to say between my irregular breath.

Somehow my whole body rejected the idea of killing. 'Why? Why would Grovyle teach me a style that is meant to kill other people?'

"Calm down. Please." Marowak tried to calm me down as he walked next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Remember that you are in control. You decide how you use your skills." he continued. "So what if it was made especially to kill other Pokemon? If you don't want to kill, then just don't do it."

His lecture calmed me down a bit. 'He is right... Maybe... Maybe I can change its purpose and create a totally new fighting-style. A version that has a completely different goal.'

"Thank you..." I replied. My breathing was normal again and the sick feeling in my stomach had faded. "Would... Would you work on a new style with me when I'm completely fit again?"

"Of course!" he answered with a smile.

"Do you want to stop or...?" Marowak asked, removing his hand from my shoulder.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. That I learned how to kill just shocked me a bit."

He walked back to Wigglytuff and let me continue my demonstration.

'What next? Hmm... I will go in the order I learned my moves.'

"Hey! Marowak!" I called over to him as dust began to stir around my feet.

His eyes widened when I was suddenly gone.

"Boo!" I yelled, tapping his shoulder from behind him.

"AAAAHH!" he screamed, almost jumping into the ceiling. He landed on his tail when he came back towards the ground, resulting in some cursing.

Wigglytuff and I burst out into laughter.

"Ahahaha! That was amazing, friend!" The fairy-type had tears in his eyes.

It took us a while before everybody calmed down. Marowak from his anger and embarrassment and Wigglytuff and me from laughing.

The ground-type sighed. "Please don't ever do that again."

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry." I said with a grin.

The Marowak folded his arms before he continued to speak.

"That was definitively Extremespeed." he said in a serious voice. "The aura needed to execute this move is far above the level a normal Riolu could produce. Hmm... How long can you maintain the enhanced speed?"

"How long?" I remembered the time I had fought the Ditto at Limestone Cavern. "Uhm... Thirty seconds... I think... I was busy throwing bones at my enemy at that time."

"Thirty seconds?! And with bones you mean Bone Rush?" He was surprised by the fact that I had used another move while keeping up Extremespeed. "Even with your Aura Garment, this is outstanding!"

"Really? How much aura do I have?" I asked, getting confused by my strange aura again.

"I'm sorry but I am not skilled enough in aura-reading to determine the amount of aura a living being has... I am only able to see its form and nature." he explained, sounding disappointed about himself.

...

"You should be able to see the nature of aura in the form of waves when you close your eyes." he continued, getting to his normal tone again.

"Really?" I asked, closing my eyes. A couple of seconds went by and... I felt nothing.

...

"Can you feel something?" the ground-type asked.

"Nope." I answered, feeling a little disappointed. I opened my eyes again.

"That is strange." he replied. "Did something happen to your aura sensors?"

"Aura sensors?"

It took me a while to understand what he meant. I remembered the appendages on the side of my head. I grabbed my left one with my left hand and pulled it into my vision.

It was covered with black fur and felt kind of hard actually.

"If a Riolu's or Lucario's aura sensors get hurt in a battle, it restricts their ability to sense aura." Marowak explained.

"Well, they don't hurt or anything..." I said, squeezing it lightly.

The Marowak closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his chin with his left hand.

"Well, maybe a Lucario can help you with that. I heard that there is a tribe of them near Crystal Cave." he said as he opened his eyes again.

'Crystal Cave... A Time Gear should be located there. I should give them a short visit when I head there... But I have to convince my friends and find Grovyle first.'

"Hmmm... I will consider it!" I replied warmly.

...

We returned to my demonstrations.

"Next up, we have Aerial Ace!" I announced, collecting the streams of air around me.

I jumped up into the air and shot myself further upwards, nearly hitting the ceiling of the room.

I landed on my feet and finished the show with a gymnastic pose.

"Oh,oh,oh! I have seen that one before!" Wiggltuff cried out, clapping his hands.

"Aerial Ace... This isn't common for a non flying-type." Marowak explained. "Have you ever used it offensively or just for locomotion?"

"Well, I have tried to power-up a kick with it..." I replied, thinking back at Craggy Coast.

"I think I can teach you a technique that uses a similar principle." he continued.

"Really?!" I was getting excited. "What is it called?"

"I will tell you when you are able to properly train again. Okay?" he said in a serious voice.

"Okay..." I sighed, feeling disappointed again.

...

I stopped for a moment before I proceeded with my next move.

"Uhm... This isn't a move I would really use in a battle so I won't even bother to show you..." I began to explain.

"What can you tell me about Attract?" I asked, feeling kind of embarrassed.

The Marowak rubbed the back of his head. "Uhm... I'm sorry but I don't know that much about mind affecting moves..." he admitted.

Somehow I was a little happy that I didn't have to learn more about that move. It only brought me problems whenever I had used it.

"Well, if you can't help me with it... Let's move on to the next move" I replied.

...

"Uhm... I have no idea what my last move is called." I remembered the move that saved my life at Fogbound Lake. My audience responded with confused looks.

"Wait, I will show you." I said, walking back to the dummy I had used before.

I put my right paw on its chest. I then concentrated my aura into my paw. When I had collected enough of it, I shot it out in front of me. The shockwave almost ripped the dummy from its stand. The recoil from the attack was enormous and made me take a step back. My back began to sting a little, but it quickly faded again.

Looking at the almost broken doll, I was surprised by the force I was able to deliver. I faced Marowak again.

"That was Force Palm. A common move for your species." the ground-type elucidated. "It lets you send out a high pressured stream of aura from your paws. Basic aura-user technique."

"The recoil is pretty hard." I commented, feeling a little soreness in my right arm.

"With some practice, you should be able to compensate it with the right stance." he replied.

"And I would gladly help you with that!" he added with a smile.

"Thanks!" I returned with a wide grin.

...

"So... Something else you want to show me?" he asked.

"Uhm... No. That was it." I realized.

"Well, is there another way I can help you with or will come back when you have fully recovered?" he went on.

I looked at Wigglytuff. I remembered that I wanted to have a match with him when Ozu told me about his strength.

'I don't think I will get another opportunity to come to the dojo with him. I'm not completely fit, but this is probably the only chance I will get before I meet up with Grovyle again.'

...

"Well, actually there is something else I would like to do here." I finally answered with a smirk on my face.

"What is it?" the Marowak was a little confused by my expression.

I looked at the fairy-type again.

"Wigglytuff?" I asked as I walked up to him. "Would you do me the honor and have a battle with me?"

"Ri, didn't you say you couldn't train because of your injury? And now you want to have a battle with the guildmaster?" Marowak objected in a concerned voice.

"Well, I don't think I will get another oppertunity in the near future... It's not going to be a serious battle just a sparring." I explained. "So what do you say, guildmaster?"

He just stared at me for a couple of seconds. He had a little smile on his face which I didn't really understand until...

"If it is a fair match between friends... Sure thing!" he answered.

"Hurray! A match! I'm so exicted!" he cheered as he jumped towards the battlefield like a bunny.

"Could you be our referee?" I asked Marowak, before I walked to my side.

He nodded and made his way to the sideline of the field.

When I was on my designated spot I removed my pouches and put them behind the line behind me.

I faced my opponent again. Being done with his warm-up, he got into his battle stance.

I was getting excited. If what Ozu told me was true, this guy had to be one of the strongest people I would find.

I put my left paw in front of me and brought my right one near my hip, baling it into a fist.

...

"Ehm... Okay this is a match between Ri the Riolu and the guildmaster Wigglytuff!" Marowak announced for us.

...

"Begin!"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 8  
**


	9. Bad timing

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Bad timing**

* * *

...

"Begin!" Marowak yelled into the middle of the room, initiating our battle.

**BGM: Battle! Friend - Pokémon X&amp;Y**

I dashed towards Wigglytuff who was still in his normal pose. Assuming that he fought more defensively than offensively, I choose my first attack to be a low swoop, aiming for his feet.

The fairy-type simply dodged by jumping over my attack. I used the momentum from my sweep to do a full 360 degree turn and went for a punch with my right fist.

He dodged again and let out a happy laugh as he rolled out of my attacks reach. His carefree attitude could be seen in his battle style.

Normally I wouldn't have anything against it but in a match, it somehow annoyed me. What was a battle good for if he didn't take it at least a little serious?

"Nice try, friend!" he called out happily.

I responded with a growl. 'And now he's mocking me? He's more of a clown than a fighter.'

I kept on my offensive assault, throwing swift punches and kicks at him. My opponent just evaded every single one of them, laughing like a little kid, doing so.

'Is this just a game to him?! I'll show him!' I growled in my head. My annoyance brought up a little anger.

I concentrated on Extremespeed and readied my left fist to deliver a punch to his face. Wigglytuff was right in front of me and with the extra speed from my move, my next attack would connect for sure.

Time around me slowed down and dust flew up from the ground around me. I used my right leg to shoot my body forward. From my point of view, the fairy-type seemed like it was frozen. While the distance between us got lesser and lesser, I noticed something strange. His body didn't move, but his eyes were fixed on my paw.

When I was close enough, I threw my fist forward. To my surprise, the Wigglytuff moved to the side, making my attack miss completely. His eyes lost the focus on my paw and met mine, while I was still hanging in the air.

'What the?!'

I had to do a roll and dig my feet and right paw into the soil in order to slow down my arrival at the ground.

'H... How did he dodge that? Did he use a move?' I thought as I got back up. 'No, there should have been a sign if he had used one...'

My opponent let out another laugh when I faced him again.

'He couldn't possibly...' My theory astonished me.

"That was quite, nice!" I yelled over to him with a grin.

The fairy-type simply returned another laugh.

"You analyzed my punches at their normal speed, so you could anticipate them when I combined a punch with Extremespeed." I added. 'This guy really knows how to fight. Not only was he able foresee my movement, he is also fast enough to dodge them without even using a move.'

I had to change my strategy. 'If offense doesn't work, let's try defense.'

I got into my battle stance and indicated him with my paw to attack me.

"Okeydokey!" he replied, jumping towards me like a child that is mimicking a horse.

I tensed up, trying to get ready for everything he could plan.

He was right in front of me when he put his arms forward. It wasn't a punch... Neither was it a try to grab me. Not that it mattered. I pushed his arms outwards with mine and readied them to be pushed into his stomach.

When I threw them forward, he was suddenly gone. My eyes widened when my paws went right though thin air.

I could hear a chuckle behind me.

"TICKLE!" Wigglytuff yelled, putting his arms to my now exposed sides.

I gulped when I felt his hands touch me.

Then he began.

In a matter of second, I found myself lying on my belly. I had tears in my eyes as the giggling fairy-type tickling me, forced me to laugh.

"Hahaha, stop! Hahaha! Please!" I yelled, trying to get away from him.

My resistance only made it worse. Wigglytuff laughed happily and seemed to enjoy every single moment of it.

"Hahaha! I can't handle anymore! Stop! Please! Hahaha..."

When the torture finally ended I quickly rolled to my side and jumped away from him.

"Could you just be a little serious about this?!" I yelled angrily, feeling offended by his childish behavior.

This time, the Wigglytuff didn't respond. He just stood there with his silly grin.

Out of anger, I used Extremespeed again and dashed forward, going for another punch.

Though this time, he didn't follow my fist with his eyes. 'Now I'll get him!'

I threw my paw into his stomach, using all the strength I could bring up.

A grin formed on my face when my punch connected. The force from the attack would knock him out of the field for sure, meaning that I would win...

Or at least I though so...

It took me a second, before I realized that my punch didn't have any effect.

I just looked at my fist with wide eyes as it touched the fairy-types belly... He let out a giggle.

"What the...?" I couldn't believe that I did no damage what so ever.

"I'm taking this serious, friend." Wigglytuff spoke up again. "Tickle is a move that lowers your opponents offensive and defensive capabilities."

"What?!"

I was getting confused of how tickling could make my punches less effective.

"And now that your defense is down... Hihihi!" he chuckled, grabbing my arm with his right hand.

He was just about to unleash his attack when, Marowak suddenly interrupted him.

**Stop the music**

"Stop! The fight is over!" he yelled from the sideline.

...

Upon hearing this, Wigglytuff let go of my hand and took a step back.

"Wait, what?! Why?" I asked angrily. I didn't want the fight to stop.

"Ri, you are still hurt and no matter what attack the guildmaster would have used, it would have dealt some serious damage." the ground-type explained as he walked on the field.

"I could have handled it!" I protested, folding my arms and breaking eye-contact with him.

"No, you coud not have handled it. I have seen the guildmaster fight before and his only physical attack is a fairy-type move." Marowak continued in a serious tone.

"Jup, jup! But I would have gone for another Tickle and forfeited after that." Wigglytuff giggled.

A cold shiver run down my spine when I heard the word "Tickle". I hoped that I would never be hit by that move again.

"Wait... You would have forfeited? Why?" I asked, shocked by his plan.

"Well, I wouldn't want to hurt a friend anyway." Wigglytuff replied. "And especially not a friend who is already injured."

I was still a little upset, but I nodded in understanding.

"Well, let's say this match is a draw." Marowak suggested with smile. "Are you okay with that?

"Okay." I replied as I turned towards Wigglytuff and held my paw out to him.

The fairy-type let out a happy laugh as it returned my handshake.

"But..." I said before I let go of his hand. "You have to promise me that we are going to have a rematch!"

"Promise!" he replied with a smile.

* * *

I thanked Marowak for his help again before we left the dojo and headed towards the main square of treasure town.

"What now?" I asked as we walked.

"I don't know my friend. Where do you think coincidence will lead us next?" he answered with a small giggle at the end.

"Uhm... Spinda's cafe? Spinda said he would teach me Own Tempo... But we are two people now... It would be kinda boring for you." I replied. "Well, its probably lunchtime by now... We could get something to eat."

"Oh, yes! Perfect Apples! We can eat them and tell each other how much we like them!" the Wigglytuff cheered happily.

I sweatdropped. 'He can't be serious... Well, I guess I have to get used to his weird behavior.'

"Uhm... Can't we get something else that apples? I kind of need a break from them after that showdown with Loudred from yesterday." I explained, rubbing the back of my head.

The guildmaster looked sad all of a sudden. "I thought you were my apple friend..."

"Well, normally I do like apples... It's just that I had too many of them yesterday. I will do that with you another time! I promise!" I said, trying to cheer him up.

The fairy-types mood shifted instantly. "Really?! Hurray!" he cheered as he jumped into the air.

I responded with another sweatdrop.

"Well, we still have to finish Chatot's job... Should we head back to the guild and just get it over with?" I asked. I didn't like to do paper work, but I also didn't want to get in trouble.

"Mmeeeh... Do you really want to do this boring stuff?" Wigglytuff asked in a somewhat sad voice.

"Not really, but I don't want to get in trouble either." I replied.

I had to spend five more minutes convincing him until he finally agreed to head back to the guild.

* * *

We just reached the crossroad when a familiar figure walked out of Spinda's café.

I began to sweat when I recognized who it was.

Chatot was staring at us with a look that said "Am I really seeing this right now?".

We just stared at each other for a couple seconds until...

"Hi, Chatot!" Wigglytuff spoke up all of sudden.

"Guildmaster? Ri?" he replied, still not able to believe what he was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

"I coincidentally wanted to go to Marowak's Dojo and because you ordered Ri to keep an eye on me, she had to come with me of course." he replied with a smile.

"Y.. You did what?" Chatot stuttered. "And the letters? How many of them are finished?"

"Zero." Wigglytuff answered. 'Oh no, this can't turn out good.'

The Chatot was stunned for a moment before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Please get back to the guild immediately." he said in a calm voice. "Guildmaster, I would like you to head to your office and start with the paper work. And Ri... Please wait in your room. I will visit you after I checked on something."

...

"But, Chatot! Pape..." Wigglytuff started but was cut off by a shout.

"NOW!" Chatot screeched so loud that my eardrums could have ripped.

We didn't hesitate and rushed towards the guild immediately.

Wigglytuff and I rather jumped down the ladders than climbing them.

I gave the fairy-type one last look before I headed to the sleeping quarters. He was winking at me with a grin.

I entered my room and closed to door behind me. When I wanted to take off my pouches and put them on the table, I gasped.

They weren't there.

'I have forgotten them at the dojo! God dammit!' I cursed in my head.

I didn't dare to leave the guild again. Chatot was probably angry enough. 'I hope I won't get in trouble.'

I sat on the table and waited for Chatot to arrive.

Fifteen minutes went by until I heard a knock on the door.

I got off of the table and opened it. A serious looking Chatot and an angry Chimecho were behind it. The bird pokemon had something in his "arms".

It were my pouches. Sweat was forming on my forehead when I realized that they knew everything. 'Busted.'

Chatot walked over to out table and put them onto it. Chimecho used her psychic powers to close the door behind her. She then floated next to Chatot.

"Would you like to tell us what happened or should I review everything?" the flying-type started. "My orders were to keep an eye on him so he would NOT leave the guild."

"Uhm... Sorry. I kind of didn't want to do paperwork and Wigglytuff said it would be okay..." I answered.

"That's not even the tip of the iceberg!", Chatots voice got louder with every word. "You dragged him to Marowak's Dojo, trained there without the permission of Chimecho and worst of all, challenged the guildmaster to a battle!"

"Yea I know, but..." I got interrupted by a loud screech from Chatot.

"This is not acceptable!" he yelled. "Not only did you endanger you own health, you also ignored both of our orders!"

The flying-type had to cool down before he continued his lecture.

"You are not allowed to leave your room again. Your punishment is over when Chimecho allows you to go on missions with your team." he said in a serious tone.

"Wait, what?" I asked, not able to believe that he grounded me like that. "Why? Nothing bad happened! I feel..."

"Silence!" Chatot screeched. "I don't want to hear any excuses! You will stay in your room and think about what you have done. Your team members will bring you something from dinner later. I want to see you tomorrow at the morning briefing."

With that he left the room and slammed the door close behind him.

Chimecho was still in the room and looked at me with a angry face.

"I will do a check on you now... Tomorrow before dinner I will decide if you are fit enough to go on a mission." she said.

Her eyes began to glow again and the weird sensation of her "diagnosis-power" went through my body again.

"You can be lucky that nothing happened during your training. " she continued. "I will give Ozu and Lya another Sitrus berry for you when they grab your food."

"Thanks..." I replied. "Oh! And by the way, you can call Lya, Riley again..."

"Oh, really? How comes?" she asked. Her anger from before turned into curiosity.

"Well, she was the first Riley and..." I began to explain. "Just go with it... I kind of like my new nickname better anyway."

"If you say so... Okay then, I will see you tomorrow." she replied as she floated towards the door.

* * *

When she closed the door behind her, I let out a loud sigh.

**BGM: Lazy Afternoons - Kingdom Hearts II**

'What now? It's probably early afternoon right now and my friends won't come back for the next few hours.'

I walked over to my bed and let myself fall on it. I put my arms behind my head, bent my left knee and placed my right leg onto it.

After I looked at the ceiling for a while, I decided to go over everything that happened and how I will go on, again.

'Okay, so Grovyle is probably on his way to Fogbound Lake right now... And I am here at the guild, trying to gain enough trust of my friends so they would believe me and help us... I will go on their missions for a week or more and then... Hmm... I will see when I tell them everything.'

My mind shifted to the many unsolved mysteries that bugged me.

'Okay... So I know I'm a human that trained martial arts and came to this world at least a few months before Grovyle found me. I wonder what I was like... Grovyle description was about Riley, so I can forget about that one.'

I put my left paw on my chin.

'Hmm... What did I learn about myself in the last couple of weeks? I don't like to hurt innocent people. Check. I want to fight every strong person I come across. Check. And I absolutely despise the thought of killing someone. Check. Oh, and I can eat a ton of apples.'

My last thought made me chuckle.

'Did I have a family? I guess... Friends? Probably... If I'm fifteen... Hmm... Did I have a boyfriend?'

The thought made me think about Grovyle again.

'Ugh... I didn't want to think about this... But now that I have the next couple of hours for myself...'

I sat up and folded my arms.

'He said he had a crush on me when... Oh, right. He had a crush on Riley.'

The thought made me feel a little depressed.

'But he checked me out at Limestone Cavern, didn't he? Does that mean he is interested in... me? Am I even interested?... What am I interested in anyways?'

...

'Hmm... My boyfriend would have to be strong, nice, caring and good-looking of course.'

I blushed a bit when my first three conditions exactly fit Grovyle.

'Ugh... But the good-looking part? I still have no idea what makes a Pokemon attractive... What do I like about Grovyle?'

Closing my eyes, I imagined his face in front of me.

...

'Probably his eyes... There is something in his eyes that makes me feel really comfortable. They somehow tell you that he knows what he's doing and that everything is going to work out in the end...'

I opened my eyes again.

'Would I... Would I want to... Could I really like him? But... He's a gecko and I'm a dog... thing.'

Just then I realized how strange all of this would look.

'Okay, this is getting awkward! I know why I didn't want to think about this.'

I forced myself to think about something different.

'Where was I? Oh, right... I wonder where I lived...'

I continued to speculate about my human life for a while.

After a while, I came to the question about my time as a Pokemon before I met Grovyle.

'I wonder how I ended up in all of this. Chatot mentioned that the Hawlucha from my memory probably lived on another continent. Maybe I should go there and see if somebody recognizes me... I have to safe the world before that of course.'

Another sigh escaped my mouth.

I spent about an hour to speculate how I would tell Riley about the truth. 'Hey, you are from the future and the partner of the guy who is stealing the Time Gears right now. But its okay, he's trying to save the world. By the way, I'm helping him.' wouldn't be very successful.

All the thinking made me tired after some time, so I decided to take a little nap.

I rested my head on the hay beneath me and closed my eyes.

...

...

...

...

My nap ended when two laughing pokemon opened the door.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Oh! Hi there, Ri!" Ozu greeted me with a smile.

"Hi." I replied groggily.

"How was you day?" Riley asked as she detached her pouch from her hip.

I let out a long yawn before I answered.

"Uhm... Not so good." I answered in a sad voice.

"What why?!" Ozu asked, being a little shocked.

"I'm grounded." I explained. "Chatot made me do some paperwork with Wigglytuff. We kind of sneaked out of the guild and had a little sparring match at Marowak's Dojo..."

"You had a match with the guildmaster?! Did you win?" he was more surprised than shocked now.

I shook my head. "We couldn't finish our battle... He didn't want to hurt an already injured friend. But he really is as strong as you said..."

I then described my battle with Wigglytuff to them.

"He really dodged your Extremespeed without using a move?" Riley asked after I finished.

"Yea, I have to train a lot more if I ever want to beat him in a real battle." I replied. "But that has to wait for now. I'm stuck in this room until Chimecho decides that I'm able to go on missions with you."

"Well, that sucks... So what are you going to do tomorrow? Laying in your bed all day will get boring for sure." Ozu asked.

"I don't know yet. Maybe some training, a nap..." I answered.

Suddenly our conversation got interupted by a loud ringing noise. It was Chimecho, calling everyone for dinner.

"Oh, I guess we should get to the dinning hall... Are you allowed to come to dinner or...?" Ozu said as he walked towards the door.

"Nope. Chatot said that you two are supposed to bring me something" I replied in a sad voice.

"Oh, and please bring me something else than apples. I kind of need a break from them." I added with a chuckle.

"Hahaha, we will find something good for you." Riley said as she closed the door behind them.

**Stop** **music**

...

It took them half an hour to come back with a small basket full of berries. Riley aslo had the sitrus berry from Chimecho in her hand.

They handed everything to me and I sat onto the table in our room.

I ate the sitrus berry first, before I dug into the mix of blue and pink berries.

Feeling satuated, I hopped on my bed to let my stomach do its work.

My friends did the same and sat onto their beds.

We then talked about their mission. They had to aid a team of archeologists to finish their exploration of a cave.

My friends and I kept on talking for another hour or so. They told me some more funny stories about their previous adventures. Soon, the topic changed to explorations in general. From exploring to fighting and from fighting to training.

"Hey, would you like to work on a proper fighting style?" I asked the Pikachu. "Back at the expedition, I have seen that you know how to use your moves. But you don't really have a proper style."

"A style?" she asked, not knowing what I meant.

"Well, you just use one move after another... Maybe we can work on some combinations." I explained. "I would love you to join me when I'm allowed to visit Marowak's Dojo again."

"If you say so." Riley replied with a grin.

'Training with her is a great way to gain her trust again.'

Our conversation continued and we talked some more about exploring until Ozu noticed that it was already nighttime. Moonlight was shining through our window and gave the room a pleasant lighting.

"Hey, I think we should get some sleep now. We have to give it our all tomorrow after all." the Chimchar said as he put of his goggles and placed them next to his bed.

"Okay..." I relied, untying the cloth around my arm. I then rested my head on the hay again. "Good night."

"Good night." my friends returned.

I had some trouble with falling asleep for a while. It had been only a couple of hours since my nap. However, my mind managed to rest itself after some time.

A final yawn escaped my mouth before I drifted into sleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 9**


	10. Document-forgers and Lady-killers

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Document-forgers and Lady-killers  
**

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM IT'S...!"

"WE GET IT!" I yelled at the top of my lungs to mute the screech from Louded as my body shot into a sitting position.

My still half asleep eyes fixed on the normal-type who had a shocked expression on his face.

"Morning." he finished weakly before he walked back into the hallway.

"That wasn't nice of you..." Ozu commented as he hopped onto his feet.

"Stupid wake-up call." I replied groggily.

My friends and I got up and prepared ourselves for the morning speech.

We walked into the main room and ordered ourselves among the other guild members.

A few of them asked me why I hadn't been at dinner yesterday. I was just about to answer when Chatot and the guildmaster came out of the office.

Chatot then held the morning briefing and just as usual...

"HURRAY!" the whole guild cheered.

The flying-type then called me over to him. In his left "hand" he held a stack of paper. In the other one was a feather and a small bottle of ink.

'Oh, god...' I knew exactly what he was about say.

"Ri... Take this into your room." he said, handing the items over to me. "Loudred will bring you the letters from the federation. You know what you have to do."

"I'm already grounded and now I have to do paperwork too? That's not..." I tried to protest but Chatot interrupted me.

"The curfew is the punishment for you reckless behavior. You haven't worked at all yesterday, so you still have to catch up on it." he said as he turned around and walked back into Wigglytuff's room.

"Oh, and don't even think of escaping your room. Loudred will guard your door all the time." he added before he closed the door behind him.

I sighed and let my head hang low.

"Hey, it could be worse." Ozu tried to cheer me up. The Chimchar grabbed my shoulder and gave me one last smile before he and Riley said good-bye and headed towards the stairs.

I walked back into my room and placed the items on the table. I didn't have to wait very long before Loudred knocked onto the door.

I saw a huge pile of letters in Loudred's arms when I opened it.

Letting out another sigh, I told him to put it on the table.

"There you go! Have FUN!" he teased with a grin before he walked out of my room and close the door behind him. 'What did I do to... Oh, right.'

I then grabbed a stool from one corner of the room, put it in front of the table and sat down on it.

* * *

'Ugh... Okay, I guess I should get started..." I thought, opening the bottle of ink.

I placed an empty sheet of paper in front of me and put the feather in my right paw.

'Ugh, how am i supposed to write with hands like this? Wait... Can I even write at all?... I guess I have to try.'

I dipped the feather into the ink and placed it on the paper.

I guided my pen shakily across the paper, but after a while I managed to write "HELLO".

'Yay! I did it.'

My writing looked more like a scribble than actual letters. I crumpled it up and thew it over my head. 'I will clean it up later.'

I took the first letter from the pile and opened it. It was written in footprint runes, though I had no problem reading them.

_Hello, my name is Needle and I'm a Nidoran. My little sister lost her headband at Mount Horn. She said that it suddenly wasn't there anymore, after she and a friend had cleared the sixth floor of the dungeon. I will pay you 1000 Poke for retrieving it._

'Oh, okay... Now what do I have to write one the mission letters again?... Uhm... The client... The objective and the area... The difficulty and... The reward.'

I put another empty sheet in front of me and placed my feather on it.

'Wait a second... I can't write this in English... Can I write in footprint runes too?'

Guiding my shaky pen across the paper again, I drew the little footprint letters onto it. When I was finished, "HELLO" could be read in the pokemon font.

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth.

'Whew... Chatot would've killed me if I didn't know how to write.'

I took a new sheet and started to summarize the letter from the Nidoran. When I was done, it looked a little something like this.

**_Lost Headband_**

_Client: Needle the Nidoran  
_

_Objective: Retrieve his little sister's headband_

_Area: Mount Horn 6F_

_Difficulty: Easy_

_Reward: 1000 Poke_

I had no idea how hard this mission actually could be, but assuming that a team only had to go to the sixth floor and find a headband, I decided to mark it as "Easy".

My writing was somewhat acceptable, what made me even more proud about my first finished letter.

The next few letters from the federation were pretty much about the same stuff. But after a while, I came across a writing about an outlaw.

_Hello, I'm Squirtle and a group of bandits is terrorizing my village. Their leader is a strong Pancham. Their hideout is somewhere inside of Apple woods. My village doesn't have a lot of money, so we can only bring up 2000 Poke. But we will give you a few items in return too. __I have to warn you though. This Pancham has some mean tricks. Nobody in our village was able to stand a chance against him. Please help us!_

This letter made me curious somehow. 'Nobody was able to stand a chance against him? This guy must be really strong then!'

I turned the letter into a "wanted poster". Not able to draw a proper image of a Pancham, the result looked like this.

_**Bandits terrorizing Village**_

_Client: Squirtle  
_

_Objective: Arrest the bandit-leader Pancham_

_Area: Apple Woods_

_Difficulty: Medium_

_Reward: 2000 Poke + ?_

'I would love to do this mission tomorrow... Hmm...'

A mischievous idea formed in my head.

I added another sentence at the bottom of the poster.

_Restriction: Fighting-type team member required_

'Hehe, this mission is mine.'

I put the poster to my other finished ones and proceeded with the rest of the letters.

Most of them were about lost items and other bandits. When I opened the last letter from the pile, I gasped. I read every letter with wide open eyes.

_The timegear from Limestone Cavern has been stolen! Its guardian Ditto was found with severe injuries. He hasn't woken up yet. Our doctors fear that he won't wake up at all and stay in a coma. A lot of burns and bruises were found on him. However, the reason for his critical state is a deep cut from a blade. We found traces of a leaf in his wound, so we assume that the culprit is a grass-type. We have narrowed down the idendity of the thief to the following species. _

_Grovyle, Sceptile, Snivy, Servine, Serpirior, Shiftry, Leafeon.  
_

_If you see any of them around the location of another timegear, please inform Magnezone immediately._

"Oh, no... This is bad. Really bad!... Did... Did Grovyle really attack that Ditto when I had already beaten it?! Why would he do something like that?!'

I shook my head and pushed those irrelevant thoughts out of my head.

'Ugh, I have to do something! Should I just destroy this letter and never talk about it again?... But what if Chatot notices that one letter is missing? No, I have to do something else... Maybe... Maybe I can cover Grovyle somehow... Yes! That's it! I will just make a summary and leave his species out! That way, nobody from the guild would look for a Grovyle.'

I immediately executed my idea and wrote a fake summary.

_**Second timegear has been stolen!**_

_The timegear from Limestone Cavern has been stolen! Our investigator found clues that let us narrow down the possible species of the culprit.  
If you find any of the following pokemon near the location of another timegear, please inform Magnezone immediately.  
_

_Snivy, Sevine, Serpirior, Shiftry, Leafeon_

'Okay, this should work... Now what to do with the original letter? They will probably throw them away, now that I summarized all of them.'

I put the original back into the pile.

'Okay... I should postpone the information about the second timegear too... I will just put it at the bottom... Yes, that could work.'

After cleaning up the table, I organized my finished sheets into a stack.

Just then, somebody knocked onto the door.

"Come in!" I answered, turning around to see who it was.

Chatot walked into the room with a bowl of berries.

"How far have you gotten until now?" he asked, walking over to me. The flying-type put the bowl next to the pile of letters.

"I'm done." I replied proudly.

"Really? All of them?" he asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Yup." I assured him.

He then looked at the well-ordered papers on the table.

"I didn't expect you to finish everything in three hours... Well, I guess you really deserve the lunch then." he said, grabbing the papers. "Loudred will clean up that pile later. You can keep the the ink and the feather. Maybe you could write a story or something if you're bored."

Chatot then walked back to the door. I heard him mutter something about "unreadable".

"Pardon?" I asked, exactly knowing what he was mumbling about.

"Nothing! Enjoy your meal!" he replied nervously as he closed the door.

'I hope it takes him a while before he sees the last paper.' I thought, eating the first berry. 'This should give Grovyle some more time.'

I quickly finished my meal and waited for Loudred to grab the heap. I didn't have to wait long for him.

After he had carried the letters out of the room, I had a couple of hours for myself again.

Most of the time until my friends arrived was spent with me drawing and writing on the empty sheets of paper which were still left on table. Most of them turned into unneccessary scribbles and doodles, so I crumpled up all of them, after they were full.

Luckily my friends walked into the room when I my options on things to do went short. I was laying on my bed, so I sat up to face them.

"Hi, there!" they greeted me.

"Oh, hi! How was you day?" I replied happily, glad that I finally had company again.

"It was okay... We had an easy mission today. I will you tell you about it after dinner." Ozu answered with a smile. "How was yours?"

"Uhm... Well, I had to do the paperwork from yesterday... It was still okay though." I said, getting up from my bed.

"Have you visited Chimecho yet? Chatot told us that you could go to the infirmary now." he continued.

"Oh, really? I hope she says that I'm ready to come with you tomorrow. I wouldn't stand another day locked up in here." I replied with a grin.

"Should we come with you or...?" Riley asked.

"If you want." I answered with a smile.

The three of us headed out of the room and walked to the infirmary. I knocked onto the door and shortly after, Chimecho called us in.

"Oh, Team Ignition." she greeted. "Are you ready for the moment of truth?"

The psychic-type ordered me to sit down on the chair again. Just as usual, she used her "diagnosis power" on me.

When she was finished, she let out a sigh.

"Well, your rib has completely recovered... I guess I have give you the permission now." she explained.

"Finally!" I cheered, throwing my hands up into the air.

I received some happy smiles from my friends.

"Here, let me take off that last bandage." she continued.

Her eyes started to glow again and the bandage around my chest slowly unwrapped itself.

My fur was still pressed against my body, leaving a slightly different colored stripe on my chest. I used my paw to fix my fur again.

"Thank, you!" I said with a smile on my face.

"No problem. Be more careful from now on." she replied with a serious voice.

"I'll try." I said with a grin.

"I'm sure of that." Her voice was full of sarcasm. "By the way, I have already prepared dinner, so you can head straight for the dinning hall."

"Okay!" we said in union as we headed to the main room.

When I closed the door behind us, Chatot stood in front of us all of a sudden.

"And?" he asked.

"I'm completely fit again!" I answered with a grin.

"Good, your team members will instruct you on everything tomorrow. We hope to see some good work from you!" he continued with a smile.

"Sure thing!" I replied happily.

* * *

The rest of the day went on without any major events. The dinner was great and I had a little small talk with the other guild members.

When we were back at our room, I cleaned up the table and carried all of the crumbled pieces of paper outside into the hallway. I threw them into a barrel that stood in one corner of the hall. Other trash was already inside it, so I assumed that it operated as a trashcan.

I walked back into our room and threw myself onto my bed.

My friends and I talked a while longer before we decided to go to sleep.

"Let's give it our all tomorrow!" Ozu said with a warm smile.

"Sure!... Good night, then." I replied, also smiling.

"Good night." they returned in union.

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM, IT'S MORNING!"

'Ugh, here we go again...' I opened my eyes and sat up.

Looking at Loudred, revealed that he was giving me a grin. The meaning behind it was clear... He didn't like it if somebody interrupted his wake-up call. His grudge from yesterday was gone now.

I got up and equipped myself for the first mission I would have with my team. I already knew which one we would choose.

We finished our preparations and headed to the main room.

Chatot held his morning speech and the whole guild finished it with the usual cheer.

This time, I climbed into the first floor, alongside the other guild members.

I immediately lead my friends to the outlaw-board and looked for the mission I had "reserved" the day before.

"Are you sure that you want to hunt an outlaw on your first mission?" Ozu asked with a concerned face.

"Yea, sure!" I replied. I then brought my head near his ear.

"All those letters are actually from me. I found an interesting mission yesterday and reserved it for us." I whispered.

I turned towards the board and looked for the mission again.

"Ah, there it is!" I said as I grabbed the paper from the board.

I held it to my friends, so they could read it.

Ozu looked at it like he was understanding everything, however, Riley's expression was completely different.

'She has no idea how to read footprint runes.' I concluded.

I reacted immediately and told her what we were going to do today.

"A group of bandits is terrorizing a village. Their hideout is somewhere in Apple woods and their leader is a strong Pancham. We get two thousand Poke and some extra items for arresting him." I explained to her with a smile.

"Oh, okay. Thank you." she replied, returning the smile.

"Well..." Ozu started. "This is going to be our first mission!"

We left the guild and made our way to the forest.

* * *

It was exactly like the time went traveled on the expedition.

Ozu mostly talked about exploring and Riley added a few comments here and then while we walked on the road.

One topic brought up an uncomfortable conversation for them.

"I hope we won't have any problems this time..." Ozu said, turning his head towards the ground.

"This time? Have you been to Apple woods before?" I asked, interested on what was behind his sad look.

"Well, do you remember Team Skull?" he began to explain. "A few days before we found you, Chatot ordered us to go to Apple woods and collect some Perfect apples for the guildmaster. Those idiots followed, knocked us out with their "gas-combo" thing and stole all the apples so we couldn't finish our mission. We tried to explain it to Chatot but he still punished us."

Hearing this brought up a little anger... Oddly, it was more against Chatot then Team Skull.

"He really didn't let you explain it? Dammit, will those prejudicing idiots ever listen?!" I exclaimed, baling my right paw into a fist.

My friends gave me a confused look...

"What do you mean?" Riley asked.

I blinked. 'Prejudicing idiots? Who are...?' A headache interrupted my thought.

A grunt escaped my mouth as I brought my paw to my head.

The feeling quickly faded and I faced my friends again. Trying to find the thought again resulted in a useless search. My brain couldn't bring up the information again.

"Uhm... I don't... Just forget it." I finally answered.

Ozu was giving me his familiar concerned look again.

"Anyway, what happened to Team Skull? I still remember that we left them by the statue..." I said, trying to divert from my weird headache.

"Well, Wigglytuff said that they didn't want to finish the expedition and left the forest." Ozu explained, still looking concerned. "Since then, nobody has seen them again."

"I hope it stays that way. I won't be so nice like at the forest when they try something again." I replied with a growl.

"Me too. I hope we never have to smell them again." Ozu said with a grin.

* * *

It took us about three hours before we reached the border of the forest.

Before we entered the dungeon that surrounded the forest, Ozu stocked everyone up with Oran berries.

"Okay, we could come across some bandits in the dungeon. Most criminals build their hideouts inside forest that are surrounded by dungeons. They act as a natural security system for them. They probably have scouts patrol inside it, if one of them spots us, we lose the chance to take them by surprise.", the Chimchar explained.

"Okay, I got it. Let's do this." I replied, giving him a thumps up.

We entered the forest and the weird "dungeon feeling" overcame me again. My friends and I got back to our usual routine. Riley leaded, Ozu and I followed.

The common inhabitants of the forest were grass and bug-types, meaning that Ozu fought most of our battles.

His skill in covering his body with flames has gotten better since the expedition. His Fire Punches looked very powerful and knocked out every plant and bug pokemon in one hit.

I took the opportunity to train my Force Palm attack. The force from the move was huge and sent the feral pokemon flying. So was the recoil. My arm felt sore and a little numb after I had used it a couple of time. It also consumed a considerable amount of aura, leaving me a little drained.

I ate an Oran berry to get my get my energy back.

Riley showed that she was able to use Thunderbolt by now. Her small shocks from Thundershock had turned into menacing bolts of lightning.

We cleared around half of the dungeon, when we came across a big room with a group of bandits in it, which were carrying some boxes and bags. I assumed that it was their loot.

"Hey, those pokemon over there look like explorers!" one of them yelled when he noticed us. It was a Tyrogue, pointing at us with its finger.

**Soundeffect: Alert (!) from Metal Gear Solid**

"Quick! Go and tell the boss!" another one yelled at a Pidgey which immediately dropped the bag it was carrying with its claws and dashed off into a hallway.

The owner of the second voice was Breloom.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?!" the grass-type yelled over to us.

"What do you think we are doing?! Were here to beat up some bandits!" I yelled back as we walked closer to them.

My view focused on the Tyrogue. "Riley, Ozu. Can you take the Breloom? I want to see what the other one can do." I said with a grin.

"Hah! You think you can take us on?" the Breloom taunted.

"Sure we can!" we yelled back in union.

The other fighting-type was eying me keenly. I walked up to it, cracking the knuckles of my paw.

"Why do you get the small one?" Riley rebelled.

"Hey! Don't judge him just because he's small! Never underestimated an opponent." I replied seriously.

My friends approached the grass-type and got ready to fight him.

"Come on! Let's go!" I said as I got into my battle stance.

**BGM: Encounter - Super Smash Bros. Brawl**

The Tyrogue dropped the bag it was carrying and brought his left leg one step forward. It then brought up his arms and got into the stance of a boxer.

Meanwhile, my friends began to fight the grass-type.

"Kickboxing?" I asked with a smile.

He just responded with a growl.

Though something about his stance was familiar. I knew what a kickboxer looked like, but that the little pokemon was mimicking one brought up a familiar feeling.

When the pokemon's eyes met mine, something strange happened.

I seemed like my eyes deceived me for a second when a black flickering figure flashed into my vision where the Tyrogue was standing.

A short jolt of pain shot through my head and made me lose my focus.

My enemy saw his chance and dashed forward. When I was able to pay attention again, he was already right in front of me.

The pokemon threw his hands against my ears, disorienting me. Fake Out.

When I opened my eyes again, instinct told me to make a move and go for a counter. However, my body simply didn't respond and left me wide open to another attack from the Tyrogue.

The fighting-type quickly took one step back, pulled his right fist back and readied a punch. I could tell by his eyes that he was aiming for my face.

I closed my eyes, awaiting the inevitable.

His punch made a direct hit with the left side of my face. The force pushed me back and made me take a step back.

I bit trough the pain, opened my eyes again and readied my left fist to deliver a counter. When I shot forward, something strange happened.

My attack was so fast, that my opponent couldn't even react.

'I'm not even using Extremespeed.'

I pushed the thought back and focused on the fight again.

The punch made contact with his face and made him stumble back. I didn't stop there and went for another punch. And another one. And another one.

I was moving so fast that the fighting-type wasn't able to see any of them coming.

When the Tyrogue was finally able to make out the gap between my attacks, he dashed forward and went for another blow with his right fist.

I used my left paw to divert his arm downwards and threw my right fist into his face to counter.

He stumbled back a few steps and held his nose with his right hand.

I immediately dashed towards him and delivered one final jump kick to his chest.

The Tyrogue was sent flying and landed on his back, unconscious.

I gave my now defeated enemy one last smirk before I looked over to my still fighting friends.

Ozu had a type advantage, yet they still had trouble with the grass-type.

The Breloom was fast. Ozu's attempts to hit him with a physical move failed. His Ember wasn't able to connect either.

Riley had a similar problem. Using her Irontail attack was ineffective for the same reason Ozu's attacks missed. Speed wise the Breloom was superior to them. Her Thunderbolt was weak against the grass-type and whenever she went for a Quickattack, the Breloom countered with a quick Machpunch, throwing her back again.

'Well, I guess I should help them.' I thought as I focused my aura into my right paw.

I formed a bone in my paw and spun it around a few time before I used Extremespeed to get right behind the grass-type.

Jumping up, I aimed my baton at the back of his head. The blow knocked him out immediately.

**Stop music**

However, while he was falling towards the ground, a cloud of dust was coming out from under his "shroom-cap".

I inhaled some of the dust and had to cough when I landed on my feet.

"Good job." I said to my friends, letting out another cough.

"Thanks..." the Pikachu replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We couldn't do anything against that guy."

*Cough* "Hey, you tried your best and that's what matters." I continued. "You just have to..." *Cough* "... Work on you speed."

Ozu got worried by my coughing. "Are you okay?" he asked with a concerned face.

"Yea, just some dust." I calmed him down. "We better hurry, that Pidgey is going to warn their boss."

"We still have to tie up those two and send them out of the dungeon." the Chimchar replied, pointing at the now unconscious pokemon.

He pulled out a piece of rope from his backpack and tied it around their hands and feet.

"And how are we going to take them out of here?" I asked.

"With our badges of course!" he answered, pulling out his explorer-badge.

When he held towards the criminals, the emblem in his hand started to glow in a bright light. Their bodies began to glow too and all of a sudden, they were gone.

"Wow, what was that?" I asked, surprised by what he had just done.

"The badge let's you teleport out pokemon from the dungeon. Those two are in front of the opening we entered the dungeon. When we finish our mission, we can use our badges on ourselves and bring those bandits to Magnezone." he explained.

Another cough escape my mouth. "Wow."

* * *

We continued our exploration and cleared another couple of floors.

But something was off. My coughing stayed and got joined by a burning pain in my chest. With every floor it got worse. I felt weak in general and when my vision got blurry, I had to stop my friends.

"Hey... Something is wrong." I panted weakly.

They turned around and walked up to me immediately.

"What's wrong, Ri?" Riley asked with a concerned voice.

Just then I had to cough again. I held my paw up to cover my mouth. My eyes widened when I saw that a few droplets of blood covered my hand now.

"By Arceus! Ri! Don't move!" Ozu grabbed my shoulder and inspected me.

"What...?" I tried to ask, but he interrupted me by putting his hand on my forehead.

"Oh, no. You have a fever. That Breloom probably poisoned you with its Effect Spore." he explained, turning around and looking for something in his backpack.

I had to take a breath before I could speak again. "Effect Spore?" I asked, letting out another cough.

The fire-type pulled out a Pecha berry and handed it to me.

"Thank you." I said weakly, before I bit down on it.

The burning in my chest stopped almost immediately, but I still felt weak and drained.

"Here, take an Oran berry." Riley said, holding the blue berry to me.

I ate that one too... However, the usual effect of the berry never came.

...

"Do you feel better?" Ozu asked, his voice still full of concern.

"No... I ate an Oran berry before. I guess I still have to wait for the last one to digest." I replied, shaking my head.

"That's bad. You can't fight in this state." he said with a serious face.

"Hey, we can't give up now! We are almost through the dungeon. I will just let you handle the wild pokemon and rest a bit." I refused.

"That's the spirit!" Riley commented with a smile. "We started this mission, so we finish it."

"Okay... But promise that you won't do anything reckless when we fight the bandit chief." Ozu ordered.

* * *

We cleared the rest of the dungeon pretty quick.

When we left the dungeon, we found ourselves in a forest full of apple trees.

I was just about to ask where we should look for the hideout, when a voice pulled our attention towards it.

"Look what we have here..." a male voice said. "Another team of explorers that thinks it could arrest me."

The owner of the voice revealed his identity when a Pancham walked out from behind a tree. He was holding a rose in his right paw.

"I'm Caz the Casanova! Bandit chief and self-proclaimed lady-killer!" he exclaimed with a poetic smile, smelling the flower. 'He can't be serious.'

We got ourselves ready to fight.

"Only one girl in your group... What a pity." he said as he threw the rose towards Riley. She caught it with her right paw, looking at it with a confused expression.

"I'm a girl too!" I yelled, feeling offended. 'Who does this guy think he is?!'

...

The Pancham blinked and gave me a close look.

"Are you sure?... Well, this doesn't change anything! Caz the Casanova would never associate himself with a Tomboy like you anyway." he taunted in a nasty tone.

'He did NOT just say Tomboy.'

That word made me lose it somehow.

"T... TOMBOY?", I asked with a trembling eyebrow and a grin on my face that said "Are you kidding me?".

My friends had to hold me back while I tried to run up to him and choke him. I cursed at the smirking Pancham in every way possible.

It took me a while before I calmed down again.

"What did I say? A real lady would never use such words." he continued to taunt me.

"Argh! Just shut up!" I yelled. Struggling against my friends cost me some energy and left me panting again.

"Can we just fight already?!" Riley said as she took one step forward and threw the rose on the ground. "I'm getting sick of you, offending my friend!"

"Take it easy, Ri. We will handle him." Ozu added, grabbing my shoulder and walking past me.

"Not in a million years! This guy is mine!" I exclaimed, running past my two friends and towards the Pancham.

"I've heard that from a lot of girls before. Not in that context though." The fighting-type smirked before dashed forward too.

My eyes focused on the Pancham's fist when he pulled it back to prepare a punch.

I wanted to divert his attack with my hand, but doing so turned out to be very difficult. The Poison had done its work and left me weak and drained. My body wasn't strong enough to properly execute the orders from my brain.

The fighting-type's fist went right through my defenses and hit me in the face. He followed up with a kick to my stomach and threw me back.

A groan escaped my mouth when I landed painfully on my back.

My friends ran right past me and prepared their attacks.

Ozu covered his right arm with fire and pulled it back, ready to throw it at the Pancham, while Riley used Irontail and spun her body around to strengthen the force from her attack.

Their target jumped back and dodged both of their attacks. Ozu's fist made contact with the grounds and shot off a wave of flames around him.

Riley had to dig her feet and hands into the ground to slow down the momentum from her spin.

The Pancham quickly dashed to Riley's side and pushed her into Ozu with a powerful kick to the Pikachu's face.

Both of them got thrown back and landed on top of each other.

The outlaw didn't have time to smirk. I had already gotten up again and used Extremespeed to get in close. My vision became a little blurry when I reached my destination.

I ignored the exhaustion, put my right paw on his chest and concentrated the little aura I still had left into it.

His eyes widened when he began to feel the pressure from the emitting aura.

My Force Palm attack sent the Pancham flying with a loud blast.

He let out a scream of pain while he rolled backwards. When he finally stopped he was kneeling on the ground, holding his chest with his paw.

He took a deep breath, got back to his feet and got on his poetic smirk again.

"I changed my mind. You might be a tomboy but I like strong women. Consider my next move a gift." he said with a mischivious grin.

I could only respond with a growl, my body was still recovering from my last move.

My friends had just gotten up again and began to walk next to me when the Pancham suddenly dashed in front of my face.

I gasped when the Pokemon's eyes me mine. His look told me what he was about to do. 'Please don't.'

A pink heart formed in front of his now winking eye. 'Attract.'

The heart flew directly into my face and shattered when it made contact. I was afraid at first but when I didn't feel anything change, a smirk formed my face.

"Ri!" Ozu screamed from behind me. "Are you okay!?"

I turned around and gave him a confused look. "Why wouldn't I?"

My friends had shocked expressions on their faces for some reason.

I turned around to faced the Pancham again. He gave me his romantic smirk again.

He had a charming look in his eyes, which made blush for some reason. 'Why haven't I noticed them before? And... Wow. He looks really strong. I bet he trains a lot.'

Taking one step closer to him, I heard a voice behind me.

"Ri! Snap out of it! It's his Attract! Whatever you're seeing, it's not real!" it said. However, I didn't pay any attention to it.

All I wanted was to look at this handsome Pancham in front of me.

"Hey, do you work out?" I asked him, taking another step towards him. When I looked at his mouth, an idea formed in my head. It made me blush even more than I already was.

He knew exactly what I was thinking and brought his arm to my hip. He then pulled me up to him, our faces almost touching each other.

He held my chin with his other paw before he brought his lips towards mine. I didn't resist and closed my eyes.

...

Our lips touched and...

...

'What the fuck?!' I screamed in my head when I realized what I was doing.

My eyes shot open and I pushed the fighting type away from me. "What the fuck!" I yelled at him, still confused how it could have happened.

"Ri! You're back!" my friends said, walking next to me.

We looked at the still smirking Pancham. "Did you like it?" he taunted.

"No, god dammit! I just kissed a god damn panda!" I yelled gritting my teeth.

I could hear Ozu mumble something under his breath, but I had something else to worry about.

"... Well, I'm satisfied." he exclaimed with a laugh.

I wanted to run up to him and punch his face in, but my body was completely drained by now.

The Pikachu next to me noticed my panting and growling.

"I'll finish him." Riley said, taking one step forward.

"Riley, don't! He will get you too!" Ozu tried to stop her.

"His trick might work on a normal Pokemon, but... I'm not exactly normal." she replied, giving the Chimchar a smirk.

"Oh, a volunteer!" the Pancham smirked.

I knew immediately what she was trying to say. 'Wait! If it worked on me...'

"Riley, don't! It won't work!" I tried to stop her, but she was already running towards the Pancham, her fist covered in electricity.

The fighting-type winked at her and a pink heart flew into her face.

'This is it.'

...

My eyes widened, when she ran right through the little shattered hearts and threw her Thunder Punch into her opponents stomach.

"What?!" He screamed, when Riley's attack made contact.

The Pancham flew backwards and landed on his back. His belly had a scorched mark on it.

"I guess... You're not the tomboy here." he called over to me weakly. He then gave Riley one last smirk before he fainted.

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. "What the? Why didn't it affect you?" I asked, walking over to her.

She blinked at me. "I'm a human, remember?" she answered with a confused look on her face.

"I know, but..." I stopped there. 'God dammit. I can't tell her... I'm a human too, so why did his Attract work on me?'

"Uhm... Forget it..." I finished, breaking eye contact.

Ozu came over to us too.

"We did it." he said with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, what about the Pidgey?" Riley asked, looking around the forest.

"He's probably long gone... Our mission was to capture their chief anyway." Ozu replied.

He then looked over to me. "You should try an Oran berry again. I don't think you can make it back to the guild in that condition."

I nodded and pulled a blue berry out from my pouch. I swallowed it whole and felt better immediately. The weakness and drained feeling had faded and the pain on my face from the Pancham's punch was gone.

"Well, we should get him out of the dungeon and bring them to the guild." Ozu continued, pulling out his badge.

This time he held it above his head and the light engulfed all of us.

My vision went white and the next thing I saw was a clearing in a forest with a tied up Tyrogue and Breloom laying on the ground. It was late afternoon by now.

Ozu pulled out another piece of rope and tied it around the unconscious Pancham's hands and feet which had teleported with us.

"Okay, to warp them back to the guild, we need to use all of our badges." the Chimchar explained.

Riley and I pulled out our badges from our "hip-pouches".

"Now everyone has to touch one of the outlaws and press the button in the middle." he finished, walking over to the Breloom.

I looked at my badge. In the middle of it was something like a gemstone... Assuming that it was the button he talked about, I went over to the Tyrogue, touched him and pressed the stone.

* * *

A bright light engulfed me and I found myself teleported again. This time, the badge brought me to to the crossroad between the guild and treasure town. I was right in front of the staircase.

My friends followed shortly after. "That's amazing!" I commented, putting my badge back.

We carried the unconscious outlaws up the stairs and brought them down onto the first floor of the guild.

"Hey, Ri... We will handle the formality's with Magnezone. You can go to Chimecho and check if the poison is really gone." Ozu ordered in a serious face.

I wanted to resist at first, but nodded in understanding when I saw the concern in his eyes.

I put the Tyrogue on the ground and climbed down to the second floor.

Just when I was about to knock onto the door of the infirmary, it opened and Chimecho floated out of it.

"Oh! Hi there, Ri." she greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, could you do check on me?" I explained. "I got poisoned today and my friends wanted me to make sure that all of it is gone."

"Sure thing." she replied as her eyes began to glow again and she used her "diagnosis-power".

"Well, I can't find any poison in your system... You're good to go!" she explained with a smile.

"Thanks!" I returned the smile.

"Um... I'm kind of late to prepare dinner... Could you help me with it?" she asked with a pleading voice.

"No problem!" I answered, giving her another smile.

We walked into the dinning hall and prepared the dinner for everyone. When we were finished, Chimecho called everyone and Chatot held his usual speech.

After dinner, my friends and I walked back into our room.

* * *

"Whew! What a day!" I said, removing my equipment and placing it on the table.

My friends took of their gear too and sat down onto their beds.

I walked over to mine and jumped in.

"It sure was..." Riley replied.

"Well, how was it with Magnezone?" I asked.

"Oh, he arrested the three of them and gave us our reward. We got two hundred Poke and a few Cheri berries." Ozu answered.

"Wait, two hundred? The letter said two thousand. What happened to the rest of it?" I gave him a confused look.

"Oh, right. You see, we are still apprentices, so we don't get the full amount of the actual reward." he explained.

"Great, just great!" I frowned.

We kept on talking for a while until Ozu decided that we should get some rest again.

I rested my head on the hay and wished my friends a good night.

Before I closed my eyes, I had to think about the strange thing that still bugged me.

'Why did Attract have an effect on me? Maybe because I've gotten used to my Pokemon body. That would be a possibility... Or maybe... No. I have human memories, so I can't be a normal Pokemon. Right? Ugh... I hope that I will get my memories back someday. All this speculating makes my head hurt.'

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into sleep, hoping that the next day would be a good one.

Little did I know, that it really would be a good day. A really, really good day!

* * *

**End of Chapter - 10**


	11. You look like you've seen a ghost

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 11 - You look like you've seen a ghost  
**

* * *

Loudred's wake-up call was acceptable today somehow.

It didn't disorient and send a ringing into my ears like usual.

Feeling well rested, I hopped out of my bed and prepared myself for the morning briefing.

'Wow, I feel great! With an attitude like that, nothing can go wrong today!'

I had already tied the red cloth around my arm when my friends were taking their first steps out of their beds.

I greeted them with a happy smile. My good mood was infectious and they immediately jumped up and got ready themselves.

We quickly made our way to the main room and ordered ourselves along the other guild members.

Chatot held his morning speech and just like every day, everybody let out the usual cheer.

"HURRAY!"

I was so motivated this morning, that the loudest cheer could be heard from me. It resulted in a few stares from the others but I simply gave them a smile.

They soon walked up the ladder and went on with their daily jobs, leaving only me, Riley, Ozu, Chatot, Loudred and Croagunk in the room.

"Let's do our best today!" I exclaimed, beginning to walk to the ladder myself.

"Now that's what I like to see! A lot of morning pep! Impressive!" Chatot responded to my happy attitude.

My friends were just about to follow me, when Loudred yelled something into the "sentry-hole".

"WHAT?! You can't identify the footprint?!" he screeched in his absurdly loud voice. "What do you MEAN?!"

"I'm trying to tell you!" a voice replied from the hole. It sounded like Diglett. "I can't identify what I don't know!"

We walked up to him to see what was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Chatot asked.

"We have a visitor up top whose footprint we can't identify!" the normal-type explained.

"... Hmm? ... Say again? You want to meet the guildmaster?" we heard from the hole.

"Your name is... Dusknoir?!"

...

That name froze me and faded out everything that happened around me.

'Dusknoir?' I repeated in my head, making sure that I really heard the name right.

'Dusknoir... Grovyle's nemesis... Dialga's servant... What am I supposed to do now? What does he want here?!Is he looking for Grovyle?!... Is he...? Is he looking for me?!'

"Hey, Ri." Riley approached me, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"Didn't you say that your friend met Dusknoir or something like that?" she asked.

"Uhm... Did I? Well, maybe I will remember something when I see him." I replied, shaking off her question.

...

The rest of the guild members came back down into the main room. Wigglytuff came out of his office and walked up to the ladder, awaiting his visitor.

And then I saw him. The "great" Dusknoir floated down from the opening and approached our guildmaster.

His eye peered through the pokemon around him and when his view met mine, a chill went down my spine.

"Thank you for visiting! What an honor!" Wigglytuff greeted him.

The ghost-type faced him and shook his head. "No, no! Think nothing of it. The honor is all mine."

"There is no greater pleasure than visiting Wigglytuff's Guild. It's famous." he said in a calm voice. It didn't really fit him. He sounded nice actually, nothing like Grovyle had described him.

"What's wrong, Ri?" Riley poked me, noticing my shocked expression. "You look like you have seen a ghost."

When she realized what she just said, she had to chuckle.

I didn't pay much attention to her, my view was looked onto Dusknoir.

"Well, I heard that your guild went on an expedition recently and I wanted to know if it was successful." Dusknoir said, explaining the reason for his visit.

'Just to get some information about the expedition? I don't buy it... Wait... If he knows about the location of the timegears too... That's it! He wants to check if somebody knows something about the timegear!'

"Sadly, no." Wigglytuff replied.

'Huh? It was successful... Why would he lie to him?'

"I see... Well, that must have been quite a disappointment for your guild." the ghost-type responded.

"Yes, that expedition was a waste of time! Didn't learn a thing about anything." the fairy-type explained.

"Oh, that's too bad... Well, at least it gave me an oppertunity to visit you. I plan to stay in Treasure Town for a short while. May I visit you occasionally during my stay? You guild constantly receives the latest news. Good information would be a big help on my explorations" Dusknoir replied.

'Sure, information... He is looking for Grovyle...'

"No problem! Other exploration teams visit us all the time. You're always welcome here!", Wigglytuff said, giving him his usual smile.

The fairy-type then stepped towards the crowd and threw his hands into the air.

"Everyone! This is Dusknoir! He's going to stay here in Treasure Town for a while. Mind yourself around him!" he announced. "Dusknoir is very famous and quite knowledgeable... So I bet everyone would like to get some advice from him. But let's not overdo it! We don't want to be a nuisance!"

Chatot also took one step forward. "Now everyone, our guest might be famous... But don't embarrass us by asking him for autographs!"

"Oh, please! Autograph's are no problem for me, really!", the ghost-type laughed. "But you exaggerated a bit on the information part. I'm not omniscient but I'm happy to help you if it's within my reach!"

A few of the other guild members gave him an applause.

"Come now, everyone! You are dismissed!" Chatot calmed them down.

"Well, I think I'm going to check out Treasure Town. If you find me, don't hesitate to approach me!" Dusknoir said, floating up to the hole.

"Bye, friend!" Wigglytuff waved at him.

'He... Isn't looking for me. That's good. Okay, now I've got another problem to worry about... Wait... I can't tell my friends the truth as long as he is around! Dammit! I have to keep am eye on him...'

While I was caught up in my thoughts, the other guild members slowly got back to their daily routines. Only me and my friends stayed where we were. Ozu had to grab my shoulder to pull me out of my trance.

"And?" he asked with an expectant face. "Did you remember something?"

"Uhm... no." I said, giving him a sad look. Just then I noticed that the goggles on his forehead were missing.

"Hey, where are your goggles?" I asked, pointing at his head.

The Chimchar touched his empty forehead. "Oh, they are still in our room. Hang on a second, I'll get them really quick." he replied, dashing towards the sleeping quarters.

This left Riley and me for ourselves.

"Hey... I've seen how you looked at him. You did remember something, didn't you?" the Pikachu asked with a serious voice.

"Uhm... I'm sorry... It's just... Ugh, I can't tell you. Not yet." I answered with a sad voice.

"Hey, we can't help you if you keep secrets from us. Come on... Aren't we friends?" she said, grabbing my shoulder.

I looked into her eyes. They had something in them that I hadn't seen for quite some time... She trusted me again.

'Dammit! Why does he have to show up right now? I can't tell her, she would probably confront Dusknoir and I don't want to put her in any danger. If he finds out that she is the real Riley... No, I have to protect her.' I thought, biting my lip.

"Riley... I... I'm... Just be careful around Dusknoir. Okay?" I finally replied.

She gave me a confused look. "Why? He seemed nice. What's wrong with him?"

'Ugh... I can't tell her about him but I want to return her somehow. If she really trusts me... Maybe I should finally tell her. She wouldn't have to be the only human in this strange world anymore.'

"Some people aren't who they seem to be... We both should know that the best of all." I said with a smirk.

She was completely perplexed now.

Just when she was about to ask what all of this was about, Ozu came out of the hallway and approached us. He had a piece of paper in his hand.

"Hey, look what I found!" he said, showing us the piece of paper. "It was laying under the hay of my bed. I found it when I looked for my goggles."

It was a wrinkled sheet of paper with the word "HELLO" inscribed on it.

'What the?! I thought I had cleaned away all of the papers! How did I miss exactly this one?... Well, I doesn't matter now anyway. I will tell them.'

"There are some strange symbols on it." the fire-type said, pointing at them with his finger.

"Hello?" Riley read out loud.

"Hello? Is that what stands there?" Ozu asked her with a confused expression.

"This is English... Human language. But I don't remember writing this." she answered, getting even more confused.

"Oh, that's mine." I said, grabbing it.

The Pikachu's eyes shot open and focused on me. Ozu had a shocked expression on his face too.

"Wait! With both of us... Y... You meant..." Riley stuttered.

I gave her a smile, put the paper into my pouch and walked towards the ladder. "Come on, I will tell you more on our mission."

The Pikachu probably wanted to bombard me with questions, but there weren't many I could answer.

I jumped up to the first floor, rather than climbing. My friends quickly gave follow.

This time I decided to take a job from the normal bulletin board.

"Ri! Talk to me!" Riley yelled, getting off from the ladder. She received a few stares from the other guild members that were present.

"Calm down, god dammit! I will tell you everything I can later." I hushed her down.

I looked back at the bulletin board. "Hey, maybe we should do a short mission today. I kind of want to train at Marowak's Dojo later." I said, rubbing my chin with my paw.

The Pikachu looked like she wanted to yell at me again but luckily kept her voice down.

Just then Ozu walked next to me and grabbed a mission from the board.

"Here, this is a quick observation-mission. We just have to explore Beach Cave and check if the dungeon conjures any new kind of Pokemon." he explained. "It's right by the beach and the dungeon only has five floors. We should be done within three hours."

"Beach Cave it us." I replied, heading for the exit.

* * *

While we walked down the beach, not a single word was spoken.

When we arrived, I turned around, closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yup... I'm human too." I said, keeping my eyes closed.

"I had my suspicions." Ozu replied.

I opened my eyes again. "What? How?"

"Well, you don't talk like a normal Pokemon. Those foreign curse words from you were strange too. I've only heard them from Riley before so all of it seemed very strange to me." he explained. "And when I found that writing I was almost sure. I haven't seen Riley write something before, so the only one it could have come from was you."

"Almost?", I asked.

"A little event threw me off. Yesterday when you got hit by Attract and were affected like any normal Pokemon. When Riley got hit, nothing happened. That really confused me. But the way you screamed at the Pancham after it happened strengthened my presumption again." he continued.

"Yea, that was strange for me too... But it probably happened because I've gotten used to my Pokemon body. Well, now that you know..." I replied, grabbing their shoulders and pulling them close to me.

"Don't tell anyone." I said in a serious voice. "Nobody can know about this. I trust you so please, don't disappoint me."

They nodded and I took my hand off their shoulder.

"Now, Riley. I know you have a ton of question, but I've got the same problem as you. I don't remember anything about my human life." I said, facing the Pikachu.

"I... Maybe our transformations are connected somehow. Please, you told us that there are some things you remembered... Tell me! Maybe they have something to do with my past!" she pleaded.

I let out a sigh. 'What am I supposed to tell her? I can't tell her about Grovyle. Not now. If Dusknoir finds out, we are in trouble. That I told her that I'm human too gained me a lot of trust but I think it's still too early to tell them about the future...'

"I'm sorry... But that I'm a human is the only thing I can let you know for now. I don't think our transformations are connected though... And memory wise... The only thing I remember about being human is that I trained Martial Arts..." I explained in a sad voice.

"Ri... Please..." she was persistent, but I had to reject her.

"Come on, Ri! Wouldn't you want to get every clue about your past too?" Ozu threw in.

"Trust me... There is a reason for my silence... When the time is right, I will tell you everything I know." I said, turning around and heading towards the cave entrance at the other end of the beach.

They hesitated for a moment but then followed me.

* * *

We entered the dungeon and began our observation mission. On the mission letter was a list of Pokemon. If we found a Pokemon that was not on the list, we would have to record our finding.

This time, Riley didn't want to lead our team. I guessed that she was kind of depressed. I got her hopes up and ruined them shortly after.

The dungeon was inhabited mostly by water and rock-types.

I took the lead and trained my Force Palm on most of the rock-type Pokemon. Any water-type I came across got knocked out by a swift series of punches and kicks.

I didn't use my bones like usual... I wanted to refine the Gavylian-style with Marowak before I used them as my main offensive strategy again. If it really was meant to kill somebody, I could accidentally cause some fatal injuries with one of Grovyle's movements. I knew that the Pokemon in the dungeon only were fake but I they looked like real ones, putting a blockade in my mind.

Riley wasn't really motivated to fight, so Ozu and I had to handle most of the wild Pokemon.

We cleared the dungeon pretty quickly... The Pokemon weren't really strong and the layout of the floors wasn't complicated like in the other ones I had been before.

There was no new Pokemon we could add to the list, so we assumed that nothing had changed in the dungeon.

After we reached the deepest point of the cave, Ozu held up his badge, teleporting us back to the beach.

...

"Whew..." I exclaimed after my vision was free from the white light.

We were back at the beach. It was probably noon by now.

"Hey, Ri..." Riley approached me. She was looking at the ground, not making any eye contact.

"You said that you would like to battle us sometime, remember?" she asked, still not raising her head. "Well, I would like to have one right now... If I lose, I will never bother you with any questions again... But..."

The electric-type rose her head. "If I win, you are going to tell me everything!"

I was really surprised by her request, but when I saw the determination in her eyes, I immediately made my decision.

'It isn't smart to do this... But I won't reject her challenge. If she thinks she can beat me... Well... Maybe she has some sort of strategy... Okay, I'm excited for this fight!'

"Whoa, Riley! Are you sure about this?" Ozu was surprised too. "Please, don't do this. She said that she will tell us someday, there's no need to fight about it!"

"I accept your challenge." I said, creating some distance between us with a jump.

"Hey, we are a team! We shouldn't fight with each other!" the Chimchar tried to stop us.

"Ozu, this is something I have to do. If this is the way to get her to talk, then so be it." Riley responded to the fire-types pleads.

"Ozu!" I called over to him, getting into my battle pose. "Don't worry, this is a fair match between friends! Please be out referee!"

The Chimchar hesitated for a bit, before he walked out of the way.

Riley tensed up and let a few sparks fly off from her cheeks.

"Riley! Remember that I have to lose something here! I'm not going to hold back." I yelled before I indicated Ozu to start our battle.

He gave both of us one last concerned look before he announced the start of our match.

"This is a match between, Riley and Ri!" he shouted.

"GO!"

I decided to stay defensive for now and focused my view on the Pikachu, ready to anticipate any move it would use.

White streams of energy began to build up around her. 'Quickattack... Hmph.'

Riley dashed at me with a great amount of speed, but my senses were able to keep up with her, making me able to ready a counter attack, should she decide to hit me straight on.

She shot her body up from the ground, trying to tackle me with her enhanced speed.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Extremespeed. When I opened them again, the Pikachu was flying through the air in slow-motion.

I stepped to the right, getting out of the line of fire from her attack.

When she was in reach, I put my left paw onto her side and focused my aura into it.

Extremespeed ended when I let my Force Palm loose and the Pikachu was thrown towards the sea with a scream of pain.

She landed in the salt-water and struggled to get up again. The water level wasn't high, only going up to her underbelly. Though the impact with the water completely drenched her.

She was holding her side and struggled to get out of the sea.

"Riley!" Ozu screamed from behind me.

Riley had her left eye closed and was constantly trying to spit out the salty water that had gotten into her mouth.

'Ugh... Already? I don't think she can fight any longer without hurting herself... I have to stop this.'

I slowly walked up to the water and held my right hand out to her. "I'm sorry, but I already told you... I will tell you when the time is right..."

She was gritting her teeth as she took one step closer to me and grabbed my paw with her left one.

Suddenly a wave of pain rushed through my body. All of my muscles were twitching as the Pikachu shocked me with a Thunderbolt.

That I was standing in the water, only strengthened her attack.

A scream of pain escaped my mouth as I tried to let go of her hand.

"Why can't you just tell me?!" she yelled at me, intensifying the bolts.

I bit through the pain and looked into her eyes.

"I want to protect you, God dammit!" I screamed back, using all of my power to throw a punch into her face.

The blow connected and sent her down into the salt-water. The stream of electricity ended and I was finally able to let go of her.

My body was covered in burns and scorches. Streams of smoke were coming from the burn marks. There was pain all over my body and I panted, holding my right paw with my left one.

I looked at the Pikachu who was pushing up her body with her arms. Her cheek was red and swollen. She had tears in her eyes and gave me a look of defeat.

"Why..." Riley tried to say, but she burst out in tears and slammed her fist into the water.

Ozu came up behind me. I turned around and saw a sad look on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

When I wanted to answer him, I realized that his question wasn't meant for me.

The fire-type stepped into the water and put his hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Y...yes." Riley sobbed.

"I'm sorry." I said, grabbing an Oran berry from my pouch.

We got out of the water and sat down on the sand.

Riley's eyes were still red but she had calmed down.

The Pikachu and I were healed up again, though I still felt a little stinging from the burns.

"Hey... I'm sorry, Ri. I shouldn't have done that to you." she said in a sad voice, looking at the darker spots on my fur.

"Forget about it..." I replied, shaking my head.

"Well, yea... It was a mean trick, but tricks were the only thing that could work on me. You have to work on your speed if you want to counter my Extremespeed." I continued, giving her a grin. "My offer is still open! You can visit Marowak with me, if you want to train... We can have a rematch too!"

"Same rules." I winked at her.

She didn't know how to respond.

"You did say that you would never ask me about my past again if you lost, but that doesn't mean you can't try again." I said, giving her a warm smile.

"Thank you..." she replied, returning my smile.

"And Ozu..." I continued, facing the Chimchar. "You should work on you speed too. Your fire attacks might be strong, but strength alone won't help you in a battle."

He nodded before he got up from the ground. "We should head back to the guild... We still have to hand in our report."

The Pikachu and I followed his suggestion and got up. We then headed back to the guild.

* * *

We just came to the crossroad when I saw him again.

Dusknoir came up the stairway from Spinda's café. We still had quite some distance between us but when his eye met mine, I froze for a second.

The ghost-type slowly floated towards the main square of Treasure Town.

When he was finally out of my sight, I let out a sigh.

'I have to watch out for him. He's probably asking around if somebody has seen a Grovyle... or a human. I should spy on him... Just to make sure if that's really what he's doing here...'

"What's wrong, Ri? You're always so absent when you see Dusknoir." Riley said, poking my arm.

"Oh... It's nothing. Really." I replied, giving her a forced smile.

We were just about to walk up the stair when I decided that I would execute my plan.

"Hey, I've got some business to do at Marowak's Dojo. Can you two handle the formalities from the mission?" I said, turning around. "We can meet up there later."

"What do you..." Ozu began to ask but I was already running towards the road, leading to the town.

"Thanks!" I called back to them before I disappeared from their sight.

* * *

**BGM: "We'd best prepare for combat, just to be safe" - Fire Emblem Awakening**

I could see the ghost Pokemon in the distance and got closer, giving me a better view on him.

On the sides of the road were a few bushes, so I used them for cover. Dashing from bush to bush I always looked out that I wouldn't get too close to him.

He talked to a few explorers who were walking into the direction, we were coming from.

A few of them asked him for autograph's and some other simply had a little chat with him.

I wasn't able to understand what they were saying though.

He then made his way to Duskull Bank. Dusknoir greeted the other ghost-type and "walked" onto the main square. A few Pokemon crowded around him, occupying my view.

'Dammit... I have to get a better point if view.'

Just the I realized that I was in a bush next to Marowak's Dojo. I walked behind the building, to stay out of Dusknoir's sight. With a high leap, I jumped on its rooftop.

The feathers, decorating the Dojo, were a great cover for me. I pushed them aside, put my head in between them and regained my vision on my target.

The crowd around him cheered and demanded more autograph's from him. It took him a couple of minutes before he was able to finish all of their requests but when he was done, the ghost-type floated towards the next part of town.

I quickly jumped down from the roof, back into another bush. Luckily, nobody present at the square noticed me.

When Dusknoir had crossed the bridge I quickly dashed over the main square and jumped into yet another bush, which was near Kecleon's Shop.

The ghost-type approached the brothers, asking them something about their goods.

After they were finished, Dusknoir said goodbye to them and strangely, headed behind their tent, getting out of my view again.

Just when I walked out of my hiding spot, I heard a voice from behind me.

"Is there a reason you are following me?" a deep voice whispered into my ear.

**Stop music**

* * *

"AAAAAAHHH!" I screamed, as I quickly turned around to see its owner.

Dusknoir was suddenly behind me, giving me a soul piercing look with his eye.

'Dammit! How did he notice me?!'

"Oh, uhm... Sorry." I said nervously, sweat staring to form on my forehead.

'Come on! I need a reason I can tell him... Wait... I know!'

"It's just... I'm a huge fan of you and I wanted to get an autograph!" I said with a forced smile.

"Well, that's still not a reason to spy on me like that... Wait, aren't you that Riolu from the guild?" he asked, his look turning "normal" again.

"Yes, I am... Chatot said we shouldn't ask you for autograph's so I wanted to ask you when you were alone... I would get in trouble if somebody from the guild would see me..." I explained, keeping up my act.

"Oh, I see... Well, I don't see anyone from the guild around here so I can give you one right now. Do you have a piece of paper?" he asked, pulling out a pen from the mouth on his belly.

Just them I remembered the sheet that was in my pouch.

'I have one... But... What if he knows human writing? Ugh... What now? Asking him for an autograph without any paper would be weird... Hmm...'

I put an embarrassed face on and rubbed the back of my head.

"I think I've left the papers at the guild... Uhm... I could get them really quick or I could just look for you tomorrow again..." I said, taking a few steps back towards the main square.

"There's a piece of paper hanging out from that pouch of yours... Let's just use that one..." the ghost-type said, pointing at my right pouch.

He was right. The paper was sticking out a bit.

'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'

I hesitated a bit before I pulled the wrinkled sheet out.

The ghost-type quickly grabbed it out of my hand and brought his pen onto it.

When he inspected the paper, he sweatdropped.

"Did you crumble it up and unfold it again? And there is already something written on it..." Dusknoir brought the paper closer to his eye. "Is this some kind of drawing?"

"Uhm, yes... I got bored one day and decided to make a few scribbles..." I said, even more nervous than before.

"Well, I'll use it anyway." he said as he wrote his name under the "HELLO" in footprint runes.

"And your name is?" he asked, looking at me again.

"Uhm... Ri!" I quickly answered.

The ghost-type looked confused all of a sudden. "Just, Ri?"

"Yes!" I confirmed.

He finished his autograph and handed the paper back to me.

"Thank you! I have to go back to the guild now... See ya!" I said running towards the main square, the piece of paper still in my paw.

"Goodbye." I heard behind me.

* * *

Back at the main square, I stopped on the crossway to Marowak's Dojo.

'Whew... That was close... Dammit! That could have gone much worse. It doesn't look like he knows human writing... I should probably just keep my distance to him. If I act suspicious around him...'

"Ri! There you are!" I heard Ozu's voice coming from the road, leading to the dojo.

My friends approached me.

"Where have you been? Marowak said you haven't visited him yet." Riley asked with a concerned face.

"Uhm..." I tried to say something but my brain wasn't able to think of an excuse.

"What is that paper in your hand?" Ozu asked, pointing at my paw.

I was still holding Dusknoir autograph in my hand. 'Ugh... They will know that I talked with Dusknoir if I show it to them... Well, he has seen it so...'

"Oh, this? It's an autograph from Dusknoir." I explained, showing it to them. "He was giving some autograph's to some other explorers when I came to the main square... I kind of wanted one too, so I followed him to Kecleon's Shop..."

The Pikachu gave me a confused look. "What was all that "being careful around him" about then?"

"Well, I had a little chat with him and he turned out to be quite nice actually..." I said nervously.

...

"Uhm... So do you two want to train or...?" I asked them, putting the paper back into my pouch.

They looked at each other before they nodded.

We walked to the dojo's front door and knocked onto it. Just like usual, Marowak slammed it open immediately.

"Oh! Hello, Ri! I haven't seen you in a while... Come in!" he greeted me.

My friends and I walked into the dojo and the ground-type closed the door behind us.

"So you brought your friends this time... What kind of training would you like to do today?" he asked us.

"Hmm... I'm not sure... But there is a question I would like to ask you." I replied. "What speed enhancing moves do you know?"

The ground-type blinked. "Speed enhancing moves? You already know how to use Extremespeed and that is the best move you can get when it's about speed."

"No, no, no. I don't want to learn another move, but my friends do." I explained, shaking my head.

"We do?" Ozu asked with a concerned face.

"Sure!" Riley answered for me.

I turned to her and gave her a grin. "That's the spirit!"

"Can you help them with that?" I asked, facing Marowak again.

He gave me a confused look. "What about your new style? You wanted to work on that last time..."

"Well, my friends come first. I will just train on the punching bags in the meantime." I said, giving my friends a smile.

"...Uhm... Okay! Come with me then." he replied, indicating my friends to follow them.

He lead them to the training field. "Okay, we are going to do some basic stamina training at first. Your moves won't be very effective if you're not able to keep up the speed."

I walked to the punching bags, which were hanging at the side of the field.

Marowak made my friends do some squats and other exercises. 'He wants to strengthen they leg muscles... Hmm... Maybe I should work on mine too...'

I watched their training for a while. Ozu didn't have a very happy expression on his face... But Riley on the other hand... She had her eyes focused on me all the time, giving me a determined look.

'Heh, she really wants to win that rematch... I better start training myself or I might fall behind!' A chuckle escaped my mouth.

I faced the punching bag behind me and got into my battle pose.

* * *

We had trained for about four hours when Ozu collapsed onto the floor.

"Can't... handle... any... more!" he panted.

"Come on! We can do this!" the Pikachu next to him said, starting another set of squats.

"No... I'm... done..." he continued, trying to catch his breath.

I was just done with a set of push-ups and decided that it was enough for that day.

"Hey, I'm done with my training too... Let's grab a drink from Spinda's cafe and get some dinner later." I suggested.

"I... would... love... to do... that!" Ozu replied, as he slowly got on his feet again.

"I'm not finished yet." Riley said, doing another squat. "You can go without me... I'll meet you at dinner."

"Are you sure?" the Chimchar asked his partner.

"Yeah, go!" It sounded almost like an order.

Ozu and I said goodbye to Marowak and left the dojo.

* * *

"I can't understand how you fighting-types can keep up with this..." he moaned. "My legs feel like bricks."

"Says the future Infernape." I chuckled.

"Well, probably a far away future..." he replied with a serious face. "Nobody has been able to evolve for quite some time now..."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"You see, there is something wrong with the Time Gears... That somehow hinders us from evolving..." he explained in a sad tone. "Have you heard about the disappearance from the Time Gear at Treeshroud Forest?"

"Uhm... Yeah, I heard about it." I answered.

"Most Pokemon think that the thief is the reason that time goes crazy..." he continued.

The fire-type looked at my hand. "And...".

"What?" I asked, getting confused.

"Ehm... It's nothing! Let's grab some drinks!" he said, shaking his head.

He then ran off towards the crossroad.

"Hey, wait for me!" I yelled, following him.

We arrived at the staircase to Spinda's café and entered.

The café was crowded with explorers. A lot of them were talking about their missions and which dungeons they had explored.

Ozu and I went over to the bar.

"Hello, Spinda!" I greeted the normal-type behind the counter.

"Oh, it's you! I haven't seen you in a while... Been sick or something?" he replied.

"Something like that." I said nervously. 'More like grounded...'

"And you brought a friend too...Hi, there!" he greeted the Chimchar behind me.

"Hello!" Ozu returned.

The normal-type gave us a thoughtful look. "You two look like you've had some training... If you're here for a drink, I would recommend my Prow berry shake!"

"Prow berries? I've never heard of a berry like that." the fire-type behind me responded.

"A Prow berry doesn't have any real use for explorers. They have a lot of proteins in them, making them an ideal snack after a work-out." I explained.

I blinked. 'Well, I probably worked out a lot before...'

"Oh, okay... How much?" Ozu asked the Spinda behind the counter, pulling out a little bag of money from his backpack.

"Twenty five Poke each." Spinda answered.

"Okay, here you go." the Chimchar said, giving the normal-type his money.

In a matter of seconds we had two glasses with a white liquid inside of them, in front of us.

"Thank you!" we said in union, grabbing our drinks.

"Cheers!" I called over to my friend, holding out my glass to him.

Ozu pushed his glass against mine and we gulped down our shakes.

It was... good. Somewhere in my mind, I had a bad image on protein shakes, but this one actually tasted good.

We put our empty glasses back on the bar and thanked Spinda again.

"Hey... Err... Ri, was it? If you want to work on Own Tempo again, you can come to my café tomorrow. We have to stock up on wares, so were closed in the afternoon." Spinda offered, putting our glasses behind the counter.

"I'll consider it! See ya!" I said, turning towards the exit.

"Bye!" Ozu added, following me.

We walked out of the café and found ourselves at the crossroad again. The sun was setting so we decided to head into the guild.

"Thank you for paying my shake!" I said, as we walked on the road leading to the stairs in front of the guild.

"That was really gentleman-like from you!" I added with a grin.

The Chimchar turned red a bit. "N-no, problem!"

We entered the guild and made our way to our room. After taking off our gear, we decided to head back into the main room and wait for our still missing team member.

Chimecho was just about to announce dinner when the electric-type climbed down the ladder.

We greeted each other and she quickly ran into our room taking off her explorer-equipment.

The psychic-type called everyone to dinner and when Riley came back from our room, we headed into the dinning hall.

When I sat down on my seat, a huge pile of apples was already placed on my plate. 'Oh, this again.'

I looked at Loudred who was sitting at the opposite side of the table.

"I haven't eaten all day, you know?" I said with a grin.

"Me NEITHER!" he called back, returning my grin.

This time our showdown turned into a huge event as all the guild members cheered around us.

...

Just like last time, my opponent and I fell off our seat from supersaturation.

"Sixteen to fifteen! Ri wins!" Ozu announced.

"Next, time!" I said to Loudred with a smile.

Everybody finished dinner and we headed back into our rooms.

I immediately plumped onto my bed.

My friends did the same. "I can feel the soreness in my muscles already." Ozu moaned again.

"Well, that's how you know that you did some good work." I replied.

It was already nighttime and moonlight was shining through our window. Feeling exhausted from our training we decided to sleep.

I was just about to close my eyes when Riley whispered something over to me.

"Pssst... Ri. Are you still awake?" she asked, trying not to wake Ozu up.

"Yes..." I whispered back.

"Do you want to talk about humans?" she asked. "Nothing about your past, just the things we remember about being human."

"Sure, why not?" I replied.

"Well, what else than Martial Arts do you remember?"

"Uhm... I had a short memory shred about a city... and a cellphone."

"Cellphones? Oh, I remember those! You could call other people with them."

"Ugh... The one I had, had some weird name... I can't remember it though..."

"Something else?"

"Nope... Do you remember something?"

"Clothes... I was kind of shocked when I found out that they were missing."

"Haha, me too... But this fur is kind of cozy actually..."

"How can you be so comfortable with this body? I'm still not able to fully control this tail."

"Well, I guess it's easier to get used to being a human-like dog than a huge mouse."

We kept on talking for a long time until each of us was out of topics we could talk about. After saying good night to each other, I got into a comfortable sleeping position and slowly fell into slumber.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 11**


	12. Help from a Flicker

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 12 - Help from a Flicker  
**

* * *

The next morning I got woken up by a strange noise in our room.

I sat up and looked around. A weak ray of sunlight was shining through our window. 'The sun hasn't even properly risen yet. Ugh... What is this?'

Riley was trying to sneak out of the room and had just opened the door.

"Riley? What are you doing?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes with my paws.

She was startled and jumped a bit.

"Oh, I'm going for a morning jog... Marowak told me it would be good for my training..." she whispered to me.

"Oh, okay..." I replied, still not fully awake. "Have fun."

I rested my head back on the hay and heard her close the door.

The bed was comfortable but somehow I wasn't able to fall asleep again.

I decided to get up and put on my gear.

Ozu was still asleep, so I slowly sneaked out of the room.

When I walked along the hallway, I noticed that all of my muscles were sore. 'Ugh, that training sure did some work... I wonder how Riley is able to go running after that...'

A door to my left opened and Loudred stepped out of it.

"Morning!" I greeted with a smile.

"MORNING!" he said, returning my smile. The normal-type then looked at my belly with a jealous face.

"How can you eat so much and stay that slim?" he asked, rubbing his still blown up stomach.

"Well, a girl has it's secrets..." I said with a grin. 'I have no idea...'

He let out a sigh. "I'm going to do the wake-up calls now... I'll see you at the briefing."

I walked into the main room and waited for the briefing to start. I could hear Loudred's call a few times and after a while, everyone positioned themselves in front of Wigglytuff's office.

Ozu joined me on our usual spot. "Where's Riley?"

"Oh, she went on a morning jog... But she should be back by now... I'm a little worried." I answered, staring nervously at the ladder which lead into the first floor.

Just when Chatot wanted to ask us where our team member was, she jumped down from the hole and ran over to us.

"Sorry!" she said to the flying-type who was looking at her with strict face.

He responded with a sigh and held his morning speech.

"HURRAY!"

The rest of the guild members went onto their daily routines. When we wanted to follow them, Chatot call us over to him.

"Team Ignition. I'd like you to run an errand!" he said, when we approached him.

"An errand?" Ozu asked.

"Yes. Go to Kecleon's Shop and ask the owners if they plan to stock Perfect Apples. The stock of the guild has run low again and it would be nice if we were able to buy them, instead of going to Apple Woods every time." the flying-type explained.

"We'll be right back!" Ozu ensured him as walked towards the ladder.

My friends and I left the guild and made our way to Kecleon's Shop.

"So... How about we do some more training today, instead of doing a mission?" Riley asked us when we passed Marowak's Dojo.

"You really want to beat me, don't you?" I replied, giving her a grin. "Well, I don't have a problem with it... How about you, Ozu?"

The Chimchar frowned. "Yesterday broke me... There's no way I'm gonna do that again today."

We laughed and finally arrived at the market.

I froze when I saw who was standing in front of the counter.

Dusknoir was chatting with the Kecleon brothers when he noticed us.

"Hello, there! You're from the guild right? Oh, and the Riolu from yesterday is here too." he greeted us.

'Ugh... I hope he doesn't ask for their names... If he hears the name Riley, he sure is going to ask her some questions.'

I tensed up... Just in case.

"Yes, were Team Ignition!" Ozu replied with a smile.

Riley was giving me a worried look.

"It's great to meet you. Are you here for some shopping?" he continued.

"No, no. Simply enjoying a chat." the ghost-type explained.

"Well, hello there! What can I do for you?" Verd, the green Kecleon, greeted us.

"Oh, were not here to shop! We came to ask you a question." Ozu said, shaking his head.

The normal-type's expectant face turned into a confused one.

"And what would that question be?" he asked.

"Chatot sent us here to ask if you plan to stock Perfect Apples." the Chimchar explained.

The green Kecleon shook his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but we have no plans to stock them."

"Oh, all right. That's too bad. Chatot will be disappointed with this news..." Ozu replied with a sad voice.

All of a sudden we heard a call in the distance.

"Azurill, hurry!" the voice of a boy called.

"Wait for me!" another boy yelled back. This one sounded a bit younger than the first one.

Two blue mouse-like Pokemon were running down the street.

"The Marill and Azurill brothers! Well, hello to you both!" Verd greeted them.

"Marill and Azurill?" I asked Riley in a silent voice.

"Do you remember the story about Drowsy?" she whispered back.

"Oh, so that's them." I nodded in understanding.

"Hi, Kecleon brothers!" the smaller mouse greeted the shopkeepers.

"Oh, and Team Ignition too!" Marill approached us. "And who is this Riolu?"

"Oh, that's Ri. She joined our team recently." Ozu introduced me to them.

"Hi!", I greeted the water-types with a smile.

"What's the rush?" the Chimchar asked them.

"You know how we've been looking for our lost item? The Water Float?" Marill explained.

"A Water Float?" Dusknoir threw in. "Now that's quite the precious item!"

"Someone said they saw it at the beach today!" Azurill exclaimed with an excited voice.

"We're going to look for it today!" Marill added.

Just then I noticed a weird smell in the air. I looked around and tried to find it's source. As soon as I turned around, the smell faded again.

'What was that? Gross...'

"Bye!" the water-types said in union as they dashed towards the main square.

...

"I've never heard of a Water Float..." Verd said, rubbing his chin. "What does it do?"

"A Water Float is an item specifically for Azurill. Only a few of them have been found, so they are extremely rare!" Dusknoir explained.

"Well, we trade with items everyday and we never came across one before... The price you can sell them for must be huge!" Verd replied.

"We should go back to Chatot and bring him the news. Come on!" I said, already turning towards the bridge. 'Just get away from Dusknoir already.'

We said goodbye and hurried back to the guild. 'Whew...'

* * *

"He wasn't mean or anything." Riley poked my arm while we were running.

"Why exactly are we supposed to... Oh, right." she tried to ask but remembered her promise.

We made our way back to the second floor of the guild and approached the guildmaster's office.

Riley knocked onto the door and shortly after, Chatot stepped out of the room.

"And? What did they say?" the flying-type asked.

"Sadly, they don't plan to stock Perfect Apples... Sorry." Ozu answered in a sad voice.

"Oh, no!" Chatot screeched, flapping his wings. "If the guildmaster doesn't get his apples... This is horrible!"

"We could get some apples from Apple Woods..." the Chimchar offered in a low tone.

The Pikachu next to me growled under her breath. 'Right, she wanted to train...'

"What?! You're joking!" he responded with another screech. "Last time I sent you there, you failed utterly!"

Ozu responded with a disappointed look.

"I'm sorry but I can't go through all of this again... I'll just have to get them myself..." Chatot continued.

"Thank you for running the errand... You're dismissed." he finished, jumping onto the window frame next to him.

The bird spread his wing and flew out of the window.

"What now?" I asked, facing my friends again.

"Let's go to Marowak's Dojo. He told me that can actually work on the moves today!" Riley suggested.

"Okay! Let's go!" I cheered, walking towards the ladder again.

Ozu let out a deep sigh before he followed us.

* * *

We were already in Treasure Town again, when Ozu let out another moan. "Do we really have to train again?"

"You can do something else if you don't want to..." Riley responded coldly.

The Chimchar was somewhat hurt by her distant behavior.

I patted him on the back. "Hey, you don't have to train if you don't feel like it... You can pick something up by just watching too. Analyse our movements so you can use the knowledge to your advantage in a fight against us."

"I don't want to fight you." he replied in a sad voice.

"Fighting isn't just about hurting each other... When you fight, you see what your opponent is capable of. It also let's you see your own strengths and weaknesses...", I explained, giving him a warm smile.

My friends were quite impressed by my lecture.

"Who taught you all of this... Martial Art wisdom?" the Chimchar asked.

...

"I... don't know..." I answered, looking at the ground.

'Did I learn all of this in the human world... or later... The only Pokemon I remember was that Hawlucha... Maybe he taught me... Ugh... I really need to get on that other continent Chatot was talking about after all of this...'

We arrived at the Dojo and just like usual, Marowak welcomed us in as soon as we touched the door.

"Already here for part two of your training?" he asked my team members.

"Yes!" Riley answered. Her voice was full of excitement.

Ozu hesitated a bit before he nodded.

He lead my friends on the training field again and began their lesson.

I walked over to the punching bags again and watched their training just like the day before.

"Okay... I'm going to start off with you, Ozu." Marowak said, indicating him to take a step forward.

Both of my friends frowned.

"The move I'm going to teach you is called Flame Charge." the ground-type explained.

"Flame Charge?" I repeated loudly.

...

'... Why does this name sound familiar? I wonder what kind of move this is...'

Marowak gave me a confused look, before he continued. "Yes... It's a fire-type move that enables the user move at a great amount of speed if it's used correctly."

"Are you able to use Flame Wheel?" he asked the fire-type in front of him.

Ozu nodded.

"It uses a similar principle... You can cover yourself with flames that are coming out of your body. Well, did you know that you can also control the force they leave it with?" he explained.

"Let's say you want to dash at someone. You can let the flames stream out of your back and push yourself towards the target." Marowak continued. "Come on, try to create a flame in your hand and let the fire stream out with so much force that it pushes your hand back.

The Chimchar did as told and held his right hand out. He closed his eyes and let a small flame come out of his palm.

"Now put some pressure behind that fire." Marowak instructed.

Ozu struggled at first, but soon the flame didn't just flicker in his hand anymore. A thin stream of flames was emitting from it.

After a while he was able to produce enough force that it was hard for him to hold his arm straight.

"Great! Now try to do the same thing with on your back." his trainer ordered.

Ozu was panting a little, but he shook of the exhaustion and followed the order.

He concentrated and covered his back in flames.

"Okay, now try to run to the other side of the field and push yourself forward with the flames on your back." the ground-type continued.

The next part was hard for Ozu. At first he wasn't able to put pressure behind the fire on his back.

He looked like a monkey that ran in a circle, trying to put out the fire on his back. I had to chuckle to this sight.

After a few tries, he managed to do it. The stream shot out from his back and I could see on his expression that he struggled to stand where he was.

The Chimchar then used the boost while he ran from one side of the field to the other.

"Put more force into it!" Marowak called to him.

Ozu followed his orders again and put everything he could into the flame. The fire grew in size and... pushed him towards the ground.

He landed face first and had a few scratches all over it when he got up again.

"Are you okay?!" Riley ran over to him and checked if he wasn't hurt.

"Ouch..." he said, rubbing his right cheek.

"I'm sorry... I should have told you that you also have to adjust the direction of the flames... If you let them stream out to high up, they will push you downwards, resulting in... Yeah... Try to aim the stream a little bit lower..." Marowak explained. It looked like he was feeling a little guilty for Ozu's fall.

The Pikachu walked back and let the fire-type try again.

Ozu had trouble with the next step. Every time the Chimchar tried, he landed on his face again.

The whole scene was familiar somehow. The fire... The failures... The frustrated expression on his face, every time he got up again.

A jolt of pain rushed trough my head as my eyes seemed to trick me again. Ozu was replaced by the strange black figure I had seen before.

'Ugh... What is this?'

My headache got worse... Much worse. I fell to my knees and held my paws against the sides of my head.

Another memory shot through my mind.

_I found myself inside of a mountain landscape. Huge rocks and boulders were all around me. In front of me was something like a training ground.__ A voice, I couldn't understand, caught my attention as my vision turned to my right. There it was again... The black flickering figure. Just like the other times I had seen it, the black fog around it spread and began to occupy my view._

'No! I want to see more!' I screamed in my head, trying to resist it somehow.

_It worked and only the edge's of my vision were covered in the black flicker. The figure was still unrecognisable. I heard another voice. I was mine._

_"Have you tried to use more than one stream? Maybe the other ones can balance your position in the dash."  
_

_I kept up my struggle but soon, everything went black again._

...

A muffled voice was calling out to me. Slowly, it became clearer and I understood what it was saying.

"Ri! Wake up! Please!" it pleaded.

I opened my eyes and saw the blurry outlines of a Pikachu, looking at me with a worried face.

"Riley? What happened?" I asked her weakly.

She let out a sigh of relief. "You collapsed all of a sudden! Are you alright?"

I sat myself up and noticed the two other concerned looking Pokemon around me.

"I think..." I replied, rubbing my head. "Ugh... My head could kill me..."

"It's just like last time..." Ozu said with a sad voice. "... A couple of days ago, back at the beach, she blacked out too."

"Do you need some water?" Marowak asked, holding a glass of water to me.

I grabbed it and took a sip.

"I'm okay again... Really." I tried to calm them down.

'Another memory... And... this black figure... What is it? Ugh... It feels so familiar... Dammit! Why can't I remember it anymore?'

"Are you sure? We should go to Chimecho and let her do a check on you..." Ozu offered.

"No... I just had a little headache again. Nothing to worry about." I insisted.

I tried to get up to my feet but as soon as I put some weight onto my legs, they gave in and made me fall back on my rear.

"You're coming with me... Now." Ozu ordered, pulling me up to him. He then took my arm and put it around his neck. His right arm went onto my right side to support me.

"I'm sorry, Marowak... We have to continue our training another time." he continued, walking towards the door with me.

"Should I come with you?" Riley asked.

"You can stay here and train... We'll see you later." I answered, while Marowak opened the door for us.

"I hope Chimecho can help you... Come back soon!" he said as we stepped outside.

* * *

Ozu supported me all the way to Duskull's Bank when I stopped him.

"I think I can walk alone again..." I said, putting my full weight on my legs.

"Are you sure?" he asked with a concerned voice. "Do you want to talk about those blackouts or is another secret you want to keep for yourself?"

'Are they? I don't think they have anything to do with Grovyle...'

We were walking on the path, leading to the crossroad when I finally answered.

"You know... Sometimes I get these weird memory shreds... They don't last very long and most of them happened when my instinct pushed out the memories of a move when I needed it..." I began to explain. "Sometimes... There is this black flickering figure and every time I see it in a memory, it stops."

Ozu responded with a confused look. "That's strange... But what about the blackouts?"

"I was coming to that... That black figure... Every time I see it, my head feels like it's about to explode... And well... Today it got so bad that I blacked out." I finished.

The Chimchar looked like he was in deep thought for a moment.

"Hmm... We should tell Chimecho about it... Maybe she knows something..." he suggested as we reached the crossing.

'Maybe... But that memory...'

_Have you tried to use more than one stream?_

'Have I met another person who struggled with Flame Charge before?... Maybe I can help Ozu to learn the move...'

"Uhm... I don't want to visit her right now... There is something I want to try..." I answered, heading towards the beach.

"Wait..." he tried to stop me. "She can help you."

"Just come on already!" I called back to him.

The fire-type hesitated for a moment before he followed me.

We were back at the beach when I stopped and faced him again.

"Ozu... You should try your Flame Charge again." I said with a serious voice.

He gave me another confused look. "What? Why?"

"Just get into your battle stance and aim your dash towards the other end of the beach." I answered, pointing at the other side of the beach.

"Ri, we should really go to Chimecho..." he answered with a worried face. "Also... Every time I used that stupid move, I fell on my face... Do you want me to see me fail again?"

"Why would I want to see a friend getting hurt?" I replied with a smile. "Trust me, I think it's going to work this time."

He wasn't really convinced. "You think?"

He created some distance between us and tensed up.

"Okay! Can you produce more that one stream at the same time?" I asked.

"I can try..." he called back to me.

The Chimchar covered his back with flames. "Ugh... This is really hard... Wouldn't I have to concentrate on more stuff at the same time this way?"

'He's right... Hmm... Wait, maybe...'

"Try to use your arms to balance yourself in your dash." I continued. "You wouldn't have to concentrate on the direction of the fire anymore! Just use two streams from your hands to maintain your position!"

The Chimchar blinked. "This... Could actually work!"

He immediately gave it a try. The fire-type shot his body forward and boosted himself with the flame on his back. When he was about to fall onto his face again, he created two smaller streams of fire in his hands and held them behind his body. They gave him even more speed and kept him upright.

In a matter of seconds, my friend was on the other side of the beach.

The flames on his back and hands disappeared as he turned around.

"I DID IT!" he cheered over to me.

He ran back to me and outright hugged me with a happy smile.

"You are a genius!" he complimented, still embracing me.

"Whoa... Calm down!" I said, trying to get out of his grasp.

When he noticed what he was doing, he immediately ended our hug and took one step back. His face was red and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry..." he replied nervously. "Got a little excited there."

"You did great!" I continued with a wide grin.

"How did you know it would work?" he asked.

"I didn't." I answered.

He gave me a confused look again. "You didn't?"

"Nope... Let's just say somebody gave me a little hint." I replied with another grin.

He was even more confused but simply nodded in understanding.

"Well... I think I'm going to visit Spinda now... You should go back to Riley and help her with her training." I said as I began to walk back to the crossroad.

"You should really ask Chimecho about the blackouts... Please, we're worried about you." he replied, following me.

"Maybe later... Also, you don't have to come with me when I do..." I continued.

"But I want to... You're my friend." he said with a sad voice.

I turned around and grabbed his shoulder. "But I'm not really your partner... Come on, that Pikachu would be happy to see you."

* * *

His expression changed. I couldn't quite tell what it was but somehow it looked like he was debating about something.

"Hey... Uhm... Ri... You know... Back at the expedition..." he started. "The little incident at the end..."

I felt a little uncomfortable when he brought up that topic.

"I actually remember everything... And... Ugh... I'm sorry." he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

I was a little shocked. "YOU are sorry? It was all my fault! I used Attract on you! You couldn't do anything against it."

His cheeks turned red and he looked at the ground. "I'm not really sure about that... Uhm... I don't really want to explain what I have seen... But at the moment I... Uhm..."

He gulped before he continued. "I could have prevented it... I think... But I didn't... And... Uhm... Yeah..."

...

I understood what he was trying to say. 'Does he think that he likes me?'

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry, Ozu... I think I know what you are trying to say... If it's not what I think it is... Well, I can tell you anyway."

His expression turned a little sad.

I turned red myself. "I think I like somebody... He's a Pokemon and well... And I'm a human... Ugh... It's just really complicated and... Sorry."

He hesitated a bit before he responded.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. The human, Pokemon thing. The way you reacted to that Pancham just made me a little nervous." he answered in a strangely nervous voice.

"It's okay... That Pancham was an idiot..." I replied. "Just forget about it."

* * *

An awkward silence was hanging in the air while we walked back to Treasure Town.

When I reached the entrance to Spinda's café, I said goodbye to him and headed down. I caught one last glimpse of him as he walked back into the town.

I stepped into the big room and approached the bar. Spinda was fiddling around with some boxes.

Wynaut and Wobbuffet were doing the same behind their counter.

"Oh, hi there!" Spinda greeted when he noticed me. "Want to work on Own Tempo?"

We continued from where we stopped last time.

This time I had to try to resist Spinda's Teeter Dance.

His feet moved so fast that my eyes weren't able to follow them. It looked like he had more than just two feet what somehow seemed strange to me. All of a sudden my vision got blurry and I felt dizzy.

...

He managed to confuse me most of the times, resulting in many breaks where I had to settle down from the dizziness.

...

After a few hours I finally managed to blend out everything around me and the input of his move didn't confuse me anymore.

...

"I did it!" I cheered as he stopped his dance.

"Nice! But you should be careful with that trick. Only use it if you're one hundred percent sure that your opponent is going to hit you with a confusing move." he explained. "You might have noticed that the awareness of the thing that happen around isn't that great... That's the risk behind Own Tempo."

"I will!" I replied. "Thank you!"

"You should train it sometimes... Would be bad if you need it and aren't able to do it again." he added.

"Well, I should head back to the guild... See ya!" I said, heading towards the exit.

I left the café and made my way back to the guild. It was already evening. 'Wow, how long have I been in there?'

I entered Wigglytuff's guild and headed to the second floor. A few of the other guild members were already waiting for Chimecho to announce dinner, so I decided to join them to wait for my friends.

I had some small talk about their explorations with them until my friends came down the ladder and Chimecho announced everyone to get into the dinning hall.

"Did you visit Chimecho yet?" Ozu asked as we walked along the hallway.

I shook my head. "Not yet... Maybe tomorrow."

He responded with a worried look.

We sat down on our usual spot and were just about to dig into the food on our plates, when Chatot called for everyone's attention.

A few guild members protested, but after a while he managed to calm everyone down.

"Okay now... We have received another letter from the federation regarding the timgears." he announced. "Another Time Gear has been stolen."

'Well, two days... That's at least something...'

The others reacted with a little tumult.

"Was... Was it the Time Gear from Fogbound Lake?" one of them asked.

Everybody got silent and awaited Chatot's answer.

"No, this one was from Limestone Cavern." he answered. "Now that another gear has been taken, I have to remember you on our promise to Uxie again."

"Promise?" I called out, interrupting the flying-type.

Suddenly everyone's eyes shot open and focused on me.

"Ri! We forgot to tell her! Dear Arceus!" Chatot screeched.

He flapped his wings and jumped onto the table, right in front of me.

His face almost touched mine and he grabbed my cheeks with his wings.

"Ri! Did you tell anyone about our discoveries from Fogbound Lake?! Tell me!" he ordered in a serious tone.

"No! I haven't talked with anyone about it!" I answered.

The whole guild let out a sigh of relief.

Chatot flew back to his seat.

"Listen closely now, Ri. Back at Fogbound Lake, when you were unconscious, we made a promise to Uxie." he began to explain. "He told us that we could keep our memories from the lake if we promised not to tell anyone about it."

I nodded in understanding.

The flying-type let out another sigh. "I see this as a reminder for the rest of you too. Don't tell anyone."

"Okay... Now to the next part. We've received some information about the identity of the thief. If you see one of the following Pokemon near the location of a Time Gear, report it immediately!", he continued. "Snivy, Servine, Serpirior, Shifty, Leafeon."

A smirk formed on my face.

"I will put the information letter on the outlaw board. Well, now that all of that it out of the way... Enjoy your meals!"

The other guild members immediately started to eat their food.

My smirk was still on my face when Riley poked my arm. "What are you smirking at?"

She startled me and I jumped a bit. "It's nothing! Just remember something funny."

She gave me a suspicious look before she turned to the the food in front of her.

I did the same and consumed a mix of berries and apples.

* * *

We finished dinner and headed into our room.

I put off my gear and hopped onto my bed, just like usual.

My friends and I kept talking for a while... About our training and what we would do the next day. They were exhausted, so we decided to call it a day and sleep early.

I felt tired too. Spinda's training was tiring and overall, I just wanted to get some sleep...

'I have to tell them... As soon as Dusknoir leaves Treasure Town, I'm going to tell them everything... I hope Grovyle is alright.'

I got into a comfortable sleeping position.

...

'I haven't even thought how I'm going to tell him that I'm not Riley... Will he be angry? I hope not...'

Those last thoughts flew through my mind before I slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 12**


	13. Suspicion

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 13 - Suspicion  
**

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM, IT'S MORNING!"

"Morning, Loudred..." my friends and I called back to the Pokemon in our doorway.

The normal-type headed back into the hallway and we got ourselves ready for our mission.

We walked into the main room and listened to Chatot's morning briefing.

Just when we wanted to head to the first floor to choose a mission, Loudred called us over to the "sentry hole".

"What's up, Loudred?" Ozu asked as we approached him.

"You've got some visitors. They want to see Team Ignition." he explained.

"Oh... I wonder who it is." the Chimchar replied.

He looked at us but only received two shrugs.

We climbed up to the entrance.

Two blue mouse-like Pokemon were standing in front of the tent. Marill and Azurill.

"Hi, there! Did you call for us?" Ozu asked as we walked out of the guild.

"Yes, we did!" Azurill replied.

"We want to ask you for some help!" his big brother continued. "You see... Yesterday when we looked for our Water Float, we weren't able to find it. Instead, we found a note, lying at the middle of the beach."

The water-type the pulled out a paper and handed it to us.

I grabbed the sheet and read it out loud. "The Water Float from the beach is now in our possession. Just try to take it from us! We'll wait in the deepest part of Amp Plains!"

"That kind of sounds like a trap..." Ozu said with a worried face. "I hope you haven't tried to got there yet, Amp Plains is full of electric-types!"

The Marill in front of us shook his head. "I would go there but just like you said, the electric-types that live there would annihilate me."

"I don't want big brother to get hurt." Azurill commented in a sad voice.

"That's why we need your help... We can't give you much but please! Get the Water Float for us." Marill pleaded.

"Do you two think what I'm thinking?" I asked my friend with a confident voice.

Ozu still looked kind of worried but Riley on the other hand nodded with a determined look on her face.

I patted the fire-type onto his shoulder and gave him a grin. "Hey, remember what you told me back at the expedition? There's nothing to worry about with someone as strong like me on your team!"

He returned with a somewhat forced smile, before he faced Azurill and Marill again.

"Sure! We'll help you!" he assured them.

They cheered and gave us a little applause while we headed to the crossing. We said goodbye to them and left Treasure Town.

Ozu pulled out his Wonder Map to plan our route. After a couple of minutes he put it back into his backpack and spoke up again.

"Okay... It's probably going to take us a couple of hours to get there." he explained.

* * *

Strangely, Ozu wasn't as talkative as usual. Something seemed to bug him at the back of his head.

Riley and I had a little chat about humans again. Ozu was only able to listen and try to understand what were talking about.

The conversation didn't last long though... Both of us didn't remember much to talk about...

We walked along a simple dirt road until we came across a rocky landscape. The sky was full of storm clouds all of sudden and we were able to hear thunder roar in the distance now and then.

"We're almost there." Ozu announced, checking the map again.

We reached our destination and prepared ourselves before we began to conquer the dungeon called Amp Plains.

Riley took the lead and tried to guide us through the hallways and rooms without raising the attention of any wild Pokemon.

Whenever we had to fight, Ozu dashed at his enemies with his newly learned Flame Charge and stroke them with a Fire Punch.

I was quite impressed by his new skill. The trick I showed him worked better than expected. He was able turn the stream of fire from his hands directly into a punch.

Riley mostly used her Quickattack... I guessed that she wanted to master it, in order to come close to the speed I was able to get with Extremespeed.

I tried out my Bone Rush again. The ground-type attack was strong against most of the Pokemon we came across. I didn't use te Gavylian-style though... The batons were only used as explosive projectiles.

Mostly electric and steel-types. Though I saw normal-types here and then too.

The Cheri berries from our first mission were really helpful in this dungeon. A few of the feral Pokemon had the Static ability. Upon touching one of them, a wave of electricity shot through my body and paralyzed me, restricting my mobility.

Ozu reacted immediately and cured me right away with one of the berries.

'I should be careful with the around those electric-types... I could just use the shockwave from Force Palm without touching them... It wouldn't be that effective but at least I won't get paralyzed again...'

I tried out my new strategy and attacked a few of the Pokemon with a "ranged" Force Palm. It worked and most of them were sent flying, even with the lower amount of force I delivered.

After clearing a couple of floors, we came across another "safe zone". The "dungeon feeling" was gone and no wild Pokemon were able to be seen.

My friends and I took the opportunity to eat some lunch. Ozu pulled out three apples from his backpack and handed two of them to Riley and me.

I grabbed it and consumed it like I usually would have. From one moment to the next, the apple was gone.

I waited for my friends to finished their meals and we continued our search for the Water Float.

The second part of the dungeon was a lot harder to get through. Back at Steam Cave, we had a similar problem. Most of the electric-types were fully evolved and could bring up strong Thunderbolts.

With some struggle, we were finally able to clear the dungeon.

When we left it, we found ourselves in another rocky area. We were at the middle of the Amp Plains and I was able to feel the electricity in the air. For me and Ozu, the feeling was a little uncomfortable... Riley on the other hand was fine. Being an electric-type, she seemed to like it actually.

We were surrounded by huge boulders and rocks and the ground was covered with dry grass.

All of a sudden, the noise from a thunder startled us. When it was over, we heard a voice.

"You are trespassing our territory!" it called from the top of a rock in front of us. It sounded male.

A Manectric stepped to the edge of the boulder and revealed the identity of the voice. "Turn back now and we will spare you!"

Just as he said those word, a huge amount of Electrike showed themselves. The rocks all around us were covered with the green and yellow canines.

My friends tensed up as all of them jumped down and slowly walked closer to us.

When the Manectric was right in front if us, we heard another voice from behind him.

"Brother, calm down! They are probably just some explorers on a mission." another Manetric called over to him. It sounded familiar somehow.

When a Darumaka walked up behind the other one, I knew who it was. I grit my teeth. 'Dammit! Why is he here?!'

"Are you sure?" the leader of the pack asked.

"Well, they have the gear for explorers and..." the other Manectric stopped there. He was looking at me with a surprised face. 'Dammit!'

"It's that Riolu again..." he said as he walked past his brother and approached me and my friends. "What a surprise..."

My friends gave me a confused look.

I tensed up and locked my eyes onto the electric-type. 'This is bad! If he talks about Grovyle... I'd have to... But... Dammit!'

"This is her?!" his brother asked with a surprised look.

"What are they talking about? Have you met them before?" Riley asked with a worried expression on her face.

"I see you've got some new friends..." the familiar Manectric said as he slowly circled around us. "Okay now... I think I've got the upper hand here... I have one question for you. If you answer, you can finish whatever business you have here and leave..."

'Don't do it...'

The electric-type stopped. "Where is that Gr... Ugh..."

A bone to the back of his head ended his question and knocked him out immediately.

"Why did you do..." Riley tried to ask, but just then hell went loose and every Pokemon around us charged towards our direction.

I could only hope that my friends would be able to survive the attack. I let the bone disappear and got into my battle stance.

A lot of Electrike lunged at at me, ready to dig their teeth into me.

One after another they shot their bodies towards me. I dodge with subsequent sidesteps and countered with swift punches and kicks.

Their number got bigger and bigger, so I had to use Extremespeed to keep up with their assault. The move also strengthened my counters, resulting in devastating blows that sent the electric-types flying.

When all of them decided to charge at me at the same time, I put my paws together and created my silver shining batons.

I then jumped up into the air and poured more aura into them. All the Electrike that had charged at me were hit by a rain of overcharged bones.

Creating one baton after another, I threw them down at my enemies.

The explosions sent them flying and created a lot of dust underneath me.

I fell into the cloud of dust and landed on my feet. A few disoriented electric-types were around me. Some of them were covered with bruises and burns...

After creating two new batons, I dashed out of the cloud to see if my friends were okay. They fought a group of Electrike and the Manectric leader.

Riley's Thunderbolt was ineffective. The green dogs were immune to the electricity. It even looked like they were getting stronger whenever the Pikachu tried to hit them with an electric-type move.

Ozu kept most of them at distance with his Ember, though some of the Electrike were able to dash through his defensive line. Whenever one of them pushed through, he threw it back with a Flame Charge enhanced Fire Punch.

I was just about to run up to my friends and help them when the Darumaka got into my way.

The fire-type gave me a menacing look and got into a battle stance.

"What's your problem?" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry..." Those were the last words the small Pokemon heard before a bone to the back of his head knocked him out.

I felt guilty when the Pokemon slowly fell to the ground.

Shaking off the feeling, I used Extremespeed again and threw my foot into the face of a Electrike that was trying to jump onto Riley. The Pokemon was thrown into another group of canines.

Landing between my friends and the Manectric leader, I got back into Grovyle's stance and faced him.

"Sorry for that..." I called back to my friends before I concentrated on Extremespeed again.

My friends were astonished when I vanished and only stirred up dust was seen at the place I just stood at.

One electric-type after another fell unconscious to the ground around them.

I finally appeared over the leader and brought one last bone to the back of his head. A last yelp escaped his mouth before he made contact with the ground.

I landed on my feet and let my bones disappear.

Riley and Ozu had shocked expressions on their faces. I was standing in a field full of knocked out Pokemon. A few whimpers could be heard sometimes.

I felt horrible... Not only did I attack them with a style that probably could've seriously injured them... They also were just some innocent electric-types, trying to protect their territory.

My head was pointing towards the ground when I slowly walked back to my team members.

When I rose my head to face them, my eyes shot open and focused on the Pokemon that was standing behind them.

My whole body froze when Dusknoir looked at me with his soul piercing eye. Somehow it looked like... 'Is he smirking?!'

"I guess you didn't need my help after all." he said.

Riley and Ozu were startled by the voice behind them and quickly turned around.

"Whoa! Don't scare us like that, Dusknoir!" Ozu responded in a surprised voice.

The ghost-type chuckled.

"Excuse me... You see, I met Marill and Azurill in Treasure Town... When they told me that you went off to Amp Plains I hurried here immediately... I knew that there is a tribe of Electrike roaming the deepest part of the plains this time of the year." he explained. "But I see that you were able to handle the situation without me."

The three of them locked their views on me.

"I'm quite impressed by that fighting-style of yours..." Dusknoir continued.

'If he has fought Grovyle before... Did he recognize the movements?!'

Riley took one step towards me. "What was that, Ri?! That Manectric knew you... Why did you attack him?!"

I took one step back as sweat formed on my forehead. "Uhm... Well, do you remember the first day after our expedition after I woke up? When I visited Marowak's dojo, I noticed that this guy was stalking me... He followed me all the way through Treasure Town... When I confronted him, he was talking some perverted nonsense... I managed to scare him off and... Well... It was a little uncomfortable for me so I didn't tell you... Sorry."

'Dammit! Another lie...'

The Pikachu looked like she didn't quite believe me. She luckily didn't ask any more questions... I could see a little anger in her expression. 'I've just gained her trust again... God dammit.'

"Shouldn't we be looking for the Water Float right now?" I asked nervously, trying to change the subject.

We split up and searched for Marill's and Azurill's precious item.

Riley and Ozu looked for it at one side of the plain while Dusknoir followed me to the other one. 'Ugh... Calm down... Don't raise any suspicion...'

"You seem pretty strong... Who taught you how to fight?" he asked with a curious voice. '... This is bad... What now? The old amnesia act?'

"Uhm... I think I trained with a Hawlucha..." I answered nervously.

He responded with a confused look. "A Hawlucha? They normally don't live on this continent... And what do you mean with "I think"?"

"Uhm... This isn't exactly the time to talk about this..." I replied. "Can we continued this conversation when were back at Treasure Town?"

'And I'm able to come up with a believable excuse... Ugh...'

Just then I noticed something laying on the ground. "Hey, what's that over there?"

I ran over to it and picked the item up with my paw. "It looks like a ring..."

Dusknoir called Riley and Ozu over to us. He then indicated me to show the ring to him.

"That's definitively a Water Float!" he exclaimed.

It looked like a blue bracelet with a green gemstone forged into it.

"We did it!" Ozu cheered.

His happy attitude changed when the four of us turned around again. The floor was still covered with unconscious Pokemon.

"We have to help them..." the Chimchar said in a sad voice. "Maybe we can leave them some Oran berries..."

"That's a good idea..." I replied, pulling out a paw full of berries from my pouch.

'I just want to get out of here... Dammit! Think! What should I tell him?'

Ozu mimicked my action and pulled out some berries from his backpack. We placed one of them in front of every Pokemon.

Dusknoir tensed up all of a sudden.

"Do you think you can hide forever?!" he yelled into the air.

'What is he talking about?'

After a few seconds, we heard a laughter in the distance. "Chaw-haw-haw..."

Just when I heard the sound, a foul smell entered my nose...

'Wait...'

Team Skull came out from their hiding spot behind a boulder.

The Skuntank approached us with a smirk.

Koffing and Zubat were followed him closely.

"We underestimated that Riolu again... And now the great Dusknoir blew our cover. I've had better plans before." Skuntank said.

"He-he-he! Those wimps wouldn't stand a chance without her." Zubat grinned.

"Ho-ho-ho! If a horde of Electrike can't beat her... Well, we gotta find something else." Koffing added, also grinning.

"You idiots stole that Water Float?! Just to get revenge on me?!" I growled angrily.

"Chaw-haw-haw! We sure did! We would've fought you again but considering that you have that ghost on your side, I would say that we better retreat." he answered, keeping up his annoying grin. "For now..."

I was just about to dash forward and knock their faces in, when an ice-cold hand grabbed my shoulder.

"They're not worth it..." Dusknoir said in a calm voice.

"Let's get out of here, boys!" Skuntank yelled as they turned around and dashed out of our sight.

"Those idiots!" Ozu growled. "What is their problem?!"

"Calm down... We should return the item back to Marill and Azurill." Dusknoir suggested. "We can think about these grunts later..."

The ghost-type pulled out his explorer-badge, indicating us to do the same. My friends and I did as told and used our badges to teleport ourselves back to Treasure Town.

It was afternoon when we arrived back in front of the staircase, leading up to the guild.

With the Water Float in my hand, we slowly headed back to Kecleon's Market... Dusknoir told us that he had seen Marill and Azurill there before he went to help us.

On the way, I tried to come up with a story I could tell Dusknoir...

'Okay... I'll just tell him that I lost my memories because of the Warp Orb... And if he talks about Grovyle's fighting-style... Hmm... I'll just keep going with the Hawlucha story...'

We arrived at the shop and two excited looking water-types came running towards us.

"Team Ignition! You're back!" Azurill cheered.

"Were you able to get it?" the bigger brother asked with an excited voice.

"Well, does this answer your question?" I replied, handing the bracelet over to them.

The water-type grabbed it with a wide smile and cheered loudly as he showed it to his little brother.

Azurill jumped happily around his brother. "They did it! They did it! They did it!"

The scene put a smile on my face.

"Thank you, sooo much!" Marill said, putting his hand onto the back of his brother to calm him down.

"No problem." Ozu replied with a warm smile.

"First you saved Azurill from that outlaw Drowsy and now this... How can we ever make this up to you?" the blue mouse continued.

The Chimchar rubbed the back of his head. "Don't mention it! We're happy to help!"

"I can only thank you again!... Though I still don't understand how you were able to know that Drowsy would kidnap my brother..." Marill said with a confused face.

"Well, my partner here had a vision about it." Ozu answered, pointing at the Pikachu next to him.

"A vision?" Dusknoir threw in with a surprised voice.

Ozu looked at Riley.

The Pikachu responded with a nod and the fire-type faced the ghost-type again.

"You see, when she touches something, she gets those weird visions sometimes... They show her visions from the future or the past that happened around the thing she touched." Ozu explained.

Dusknoir looked perplexed all of a sudden. "Well, that sounds like the Dimensional Scream to me..."

My eyes shot open and focused on the ghost-type. 'He knows about the Dimensional Scream?! Oh no...'

"The Dimensional Scream?" Riley asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yes... It's a rare ability that let's you do exactly what you your friend just described... But..." he answered.

She got even more confused by his last word. "But... What?"

Dusknoir looked at me for a brief moment.

'Why is he looking at me? ...Wait... Did he think that...? But that could only mean... Does he know!?... But... He has just seen me fight like Grovyle... That alone couldn't have told him... Wait... What if...'

I remembered the autograph I had in my pouch. 'No...'

The ghost-type shook his head. "Nothing, I was just surprised that you have such a rare skill..."

"Can you tell me more about it?!" Riley almost yelled at him with an expectant voice.

"Well, I wanted to talk with you three in private anyway... Do you know a quiet place where nobody would disturb us?" Dusknoir asked.

"We could go to the beach..." Ozu suggested.

Dusknoir turned to the two water-types next to him. "Good-bye... May we meet again."

"Bye!" they replied in union.

He then floated towards the bridge next to us.

My friends said goodbye too and followed him. I hesitated for a moment...

A forced grin formed on my face as I said goodbye too and turned around to follow them.

Riley and Ozu were talking about her, finally learning something about herself... Dusknoir turned around now and then and looked at either me or Riley.

'I bet that he's going to ask her for her name... But what does it matter to him if she is Grovyle's partner? She has lost her memory, so she won't be a threat to his plan... He would gain nothing from attacking her... But if he does... I can stop him and tell them the truth... His attack would be the proof. That would solve all of my problems!... Well, at least a few of them.'

I was close behind my friends and tried to come up with a plan.

After a while, we reached the beach and the ghost-type turned around to face us again.

"So, what do you want to know?" he asked with a calm voice.

"Do you know why I have an ability like this?" the Pikachu asked in an excited tone.

"Well, the way to obtain the Dimensional Scream is a mystery in itself. Some say that it gets inherited... Other's say that it occurs when a living being stumbles into a disturbance in time." he explained.

The ghost-type sounded a little bit too curious when he asked his next question. "Did your parents have a similar ability?"

Riley's head sank towards the ground. "I don't know... I have amnesia... I woke up on this beach a couple of weeks ago..."

Dusknoir looked surprised. "Amnesia?"

"Yes, all I remember was my name and..." she stopped there.

Dusknoir responded with a confused look. "And what?"

A smirk could be seen on my face when I walked next to the Pikachu and put my hand onto her shoulder.

She rose her head again and looked at me with a confused expression.

"Hey, Riley... I think we should tell him about your little human secret."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 13**


	14. The Thief

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 14 - The Thief**

* * *

"Riley?" the ghost-types eye shot open. "And... You say that she is a human?"

The Pikachu looked at me with a somewhat shocked expression... Throwing out her secret without even asking wasn't nice after all.

Ozu was a little astonished too.

She turned her attention towards Dusknoir again. "Yes... I'm a human... And yes, my name is Riley."

The electric-type was a bit confused by the surprised look on his face. "Does my name say something to you?"

"Sadly... No... But that you claim to be a human is just a little shocking." Dusknoir said, clearing his throat.

'He should have figured it out... Let's see what he does next...'

Riley made eye contact with me. "Shouldn't we tell him about you too?"

'Hmmm... He wouldn't gain anything from knowing that I'm human... Heh... It would only get him more confused.'

I was just about to open my mouth and tell him, when a shout from Bidoof caught our attention.

"Hey! Ozu! Riley! Ri!" he yelled, running down the beach.

The normal-type stopped right in front of us. He was panting and had to catch his breath for a couple of seconds.

"What's wrong, Bidoof?" Ozu asked.

He had to take one last deep breath before he was able to speak again.

"You have to come back to the guild! Quick! Chatot ordered everyone to meet up at the outlaw board immediately!" Bidoof explained.

"I guess we have to continue our conversation another time." I said to Dusknoir.

'Thank god... This could've gone bad... I have a little more time to come up with a plan now.'

"I'm coming with you. I would like to see what this all about." he replied.

'Dammit.'

We followed the Bidoof and quickly headed back to the guild. When we reached the crossroad, I noticed that a huge amount of Pelipper were flying through the sky above us.

'What is going on?'

* * *

We arrived at the guild and climbed down to the first floor.

A crowd of Pokemon was standing in front of the outlaw bulletin board.

"Here they are!" Bidoof exclaimed as he took his place in the crowd.

"What's wrong?" Ozu asked with a confused expression on his face.

Chatot took one step towards us. "Something horrible has happened. It's..."

The flying-type hesitated before he continued. "Another Time Gear has been stolen!"

My friends were shocked. "What!?"

I was surprised too. 'Another one? So Grovyle has already been to Fogbound Lake.'

"W... Where was it taken from?" the Chimchar next to me asked.

Looking into the faces of the other guild members, I could already tell that it really was the one from the lake.

"It's the one from Fogbound Lake." Chatot answered.

"But how?" Riley asked with a sad look. "I'm sure that none of us broke our promise."

A few guild members were looking at me.

"Hey, I already told you! I didn't tell anyone!" I yelled at them, feeling a little offended.

"Calm down, Ri... We believe you..." Chatot hushed me down.

The ghost-type behind me cleared his throat. "Could somebody tell me what this is about?"

"Oh, Dusknoir... Uhm... We're sorry. When you asked us about our expedition, I lied to you." Wigglytuff spoke up. "We actually found a Time Gear there. We had to promise Uxie not to tell anyone about it's location..."

He nodded in understanding. "It's okay, I respect your loyalty."

"We have received a letter from the federation. Uxie was able to identify the thief." Chatot continued, pointing at a wanted poster on the board.

I gasped when I saw the poster with a picture of a Grovyle. I was just standing there with wide open eyes and mouth.

'No! This is bad! They found him! What... What am I supposed to do?! I can't tell them... Dusknoir would just expose me as a complice... I would have to fight my way out if here and... Dammit!... I... I have to wait and think... Figure out a way to help him somehow... And...'

"Ri...Hello? Ri!" Riley ripped me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay? You've been staring at this picture like you had seen a ghost."

Again, a few of the others were staring at me. I didn't see him, but somehow I knew that Dusknoir noticed my reaction too.

"Ugh... It's nothing..." I said, shaking my head. "I just thought that... Ugh.. Forget it."

The Pikachu gave me a suspicious look. She seemed to be in deep thought all of a sudden.

"A Grovyle? The first letter didn't say anything about one of them..." Ozu though out loud.

"That is correct. It is strange that the federation didn't consider their species... It doesn't matter now anyway... We know who we have to deal with now." Chatot responded.

Wigglytuff got everyone's attention again. "Okay, everyone! We have a thief to catch! From now on, we focus our work on finding that Grovyle! We will discuss our plans tomorrow at the morning briefing!"

"You heard the guildmaster! Use the rest of the time before dinner to prepare yourself for the search!" the flying-type next to him added. "You are dismissed!"

"I will try to assist you in every was possible." Dusknoir announced before the other guild members slowly left the room.

A couple of them left the guild. I assumed that they went to stock up at Kecleon's Market.

Luckily, Dusknoir followed Chatot and Wigglytuff down to the second floor. They would probably decide where to send the teams.

Only me and my friends were left.

"Should we do some last-minute shopping too?" Ozu asked.

"I think I'd rather give Marowak a short visit before dinner." Riley answered. "What about you, Ri?"

She had to wait a moment for my answer. My head was busy, trying to decide how to go on from here on.

'Grovyle is a hunted outlaw... I... If I tell my friends now... What would they do? Would they just dump me and sell me out for helping a criminal?... But what about Riley? Would she believe me if I told her that she is his partner?... Ugh... I need to think...'

I noticed that the Pikachu had just asked me a question. "Sorry, what?"

"Should we do a little training session before dinner?" she repeated.

"Fine by me." I nodded.

We left the guild and headed towards Marowak's Dojo.

'Ugh... I... Maybe I can give Grovyle some more time to collect the other Time Gears... Yes... That's it... Dusknoir knows where the other gears are... Meaning that Wigglytuff is going to send us to Crystal Cave or Quicksand Desert tomorrow... Grovyle said that he would get the one from the desert after Fogbound Lake... If I met him there... I could probably join him again and... Ugh... But Riley and Ozu...'

"Ri?" I got pulled out of my thoughts again.

"Huh?" I turned my head to my friends.

They had confused looks on their faces.

"Is something wrong?" the Chimchar asked. "You're so absent..."

"Uhm... I'm just debating what kind of training I should do..." I answered.

We finally arrived at the Dojo. Riley knocked on the door and Marowak welcomed us in.

"So, what can I do for you today?" the ground-type asked as he closed the door behind us. "You two did some good work yesterday! Do you want to try out your new moves in a sparring match?"

My friends looked at each other for a moment before they faced him again and shook their heads.

"No, just some normal training." Riley replied.

"Oh..." he was somewhat disappointed.

Marowak's expression turned back to normal when he approached me. "What about you? Ready to work on that Gavylian-style?"

"Gavylian-style?" Riley threw in with a confused look.

"It's the fighting-style I used when I fought with my batons..." I explained.

"Oh... Okay..."

I wasn't really motivated to for training but I needed something to distract me for a while.

"Well, how are we going to refine it?" I asked the ground-type.

He brought his hand to his chin. "Hmm... Show me the basic movements... Maybe I can see what makes that style so lethal..."

"Lethal?" Ozu asked with a somewhat worried face.

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Yeah... That style's purpose is to kill other Pokemon... I... I just couldn't do something like that... That's why I want to invent a new style..."

The Chimchat responded with a nod. "I see..."

Marowak lead me onto the training field and instructed my friends to do some more stamina training.

"Okay, create your bones and show me how you would attack." he ordered.

I did as told and put my paws together in front of me. After concentrating enough aura into them, I pulled them outwards again and broke the bone in half when it was long enough.

Just like usual, I spun them around a bit, before I got into the basic stance.

I proceed by showing off every movement Grovyle had taught me.

Marowak was eying me closely as I swung my bones through the air.

After a while, stopped me. "I think I figured it out."

I let my bones disappear and walked up to him.

I took a quick glimpse at my friends. Riley was just sitting there in a meditation position.

'What is she doing? Meditating won't help her to increase her speed... What kind of move did Marowak teach her?'

Ozu worked on the the fire streams on his back, he needed for Flame Charge. He was getting better at controlling the "direction part" of the move.

I turned my attention back to the ground-type in front of me.

"I see now what makes it so lethal... Your attacks are mainly swipes which means that if you had blades, you would cut through the vital points of your enemies." he began to explain. "Most of them aim towards the neck and the head. Your bones aren't sharp but the angle at which you hit their necks can lead to lethal effects too."

I clasped my arm and nodded in understanding. "So what could I do to change that?"

The Marowak mimicked me and folded his arm too. "Hmmm... We could try to change the swipe motion into a simple straight blow. The worst thing you could do to another Pokemon would be to knock it out... And I assumed that this could be the purpose of your new style... Knocking out your foes immediately without causing any damage to them."

I liked that description. I knocked out people with one blow a lot, meaning that the new style would be beneficial for my way to handle most of my confrontations. I wouldn't have any risk to severely injure my targets anymore.

"Okay!" I exclaimed with a smile. "Let's try it."

We tried out his plan on one of the dummies.

The first part, getting into reach, stayed the same. I had no problem executing it.

When I got to the second part, the actual blow, it got harder.

Grovyle had taught me to turn the momentum from my dash directly into the strike.

With a swipe motion, it was no problem... But with a straight blow, this wasn't possible anymore.

I had to bend in my elbow before I could throw the bone at the back of the dummies head. The motion was similar to back-stab.

I was just about to get the hang of it when Ozu stopped my training. "Hey, Ri! We should head to dinner now!"

Somewhat disappointed, I let my bones disappear and walked over to my friends which were waiting for me in front of the exit.

"Thank you, Marowak!" I grinned at him before me and my friends said good-bye and headed back to the guild.

"So what have you been doing, Riley?" I asked her as we passed Duskull's Bank.

The Pikachu gave me a grin. "That's something you would like to know, huh? Well, I still want that rematch so I won't tell you! Once I have mastered that move, I'm sure I can beat you."

Her confidence lifted my mood somehow. "Hehe, that's the spirit!"

On the rest of the way, I got back into my thoughts again.

'Okay... I need to come up with a plan... Think... My main goal now is to give Grovyle some more time to collect the Time Gears... I could sabotage the search and warn him about any traps Dusknoir is planning... If I meet him...Yes... That's it.'

* * *

We reached the guild and headed down to the second floor. The other guild members were already waiting for Chimecho to announce dinner.

At the same time, the psychic-type floated out of the infirmary, Dusknoir, Chatot and Wigglytuff left the guildmasters office.

Chimecho announced that it was dinner time and everyone headed into the dinning hall.

To my dismay, Wigglytuff invited the ghost-type to join us.

'He just won't give me a break... Ugh...'

Dusknoir was sitting right next to me, what gave me a strange feeling while I was eating.

All of the guild members were finished and slowly headed out of the room. When I wanted to follow my friends, Dusknoir stopped me.

'Oh, god...Why?'

"I think now is a good time to continue our conversation." he said in calm voice.

I looked over to Riley and Ozu, which were slowly walking back to us.

"Your friend was talking about a secret of yours..."

There were no other guild members left in the room, meaning that I could tell him.

I looked into his eye. "I'm a human too."

He didn't seem to be that surprised like he had been with Riley.

"Two humans..." he said under his breath before he gave me an expectant look. "Do you remember something about your human life?"

"Uhm... No... My friends here found me unconscious in front of the guild a while ago. Everything before that is just really foggy." I answered, trying to sound as sad as possible.

"Mmmmh, I see." He put his hand down again. "So you don't remember who you learned that fighting-style from... Too bad."

"Is there something else you want to talk about or can we leave you now? I'm kind of tired and I want to be fit for tomorrow." I said, getting up from my stool.

"Well, there's not much to ask if you lost your memories..." he replied. "I will see you at the briefing."

'Whew...'

* * *

We left the dinning hall and headed back to our room.

The ghost-type said good-bye to us before he floated up the ladder, leading up to the next floor.

Riley, Ozu and I headed back into our room and put off our gear.

I sat down on my bed, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm really tired... Wow."

My friends did the same.

The Pikachu untied her scarf and rested it next to her bed before she faced me. "Hey, Ri... I don't know how I come to a question like this but... That friend you told us about..."

'Ugh... Right...'

"What about him?" I asked nervously.

"I think you never told us what kind of species he was..." she said with a serious voice.

"Uhm... Riley... That's kind of about my past again... I will tell you... But right now is a really bad moment... Can we just concentrate on that mission tomorrow?" I shook off her question.

She gave me a suspicious look and put her head onto the hay. "If you say so... Good night." she said coldly.

Ozu responded with a worried expression, before he laid down too. "Good night."

I got myself into a comfortable sleeping position and thought about my whole situation again.

'Okay... For now I'll try to give Grovyle some more time... And my friends... Lying to them is... Ugh... I have to keep them out of Grovyle's way. I really want to tell them but I can't risk it if Dusknoir is still here at the guild...'

My thought shifted to another problem.

'How am I supposed to tell Grovyle? I guess he would appreciate that I'm still trying to help him even if I'm not his real partner... I would have to find him for that of course... Quicksand Desert... I could try to head there alone in a couple of days... Ugh... But what should I tell my friends then? I would have to lie again... Dammit.'

I was slowly drifting into sleep when I suddenly heard a whisper.

"Riley. Are you still awake?" Ozu asked.

"Yeah..." she responded.

"Do you really want to fight her?" He sounded worried.

"That's what I've been training for..." she said in a confident tone.

"Psst, Ri." the Pikachu tried to wake me.

I acted like I was sleeping... I didn't want to talk anymore.

"Okay... She's asleep. Have you noticed her weird behavior today? Ever since she has seen that wanted poster, she began to act really strange." she continued.

"Yeah, I've noticed... Do you have an idea what could be wrong?" the Chimchar asked with a worried voice.

"I... There is something that bugs me... I think that Ri... Uhm..."

The Pikachu stopped there and was silent for a moment.

"It was a stupid idea, forget about it..."

"Come on, tell me." Ozu replied.

The Pikachu let out a deep sigh. "I think that Ri has seen that Grovyle before..."

My eyes shot open. 'Dammit...'

"But she would tell us, wouldn't she?" Another sigh escaped her mouth. "Ugh... Please forget that I even mentioned it... Ri could never..."

"You don't think that?" The Chimchar sounded a little surprised.

"Good night, Ozu." she answered.

The fire-type hesitated a bit before he responded. "Good night."

'I'm sorry...' I closed my eyes again. 'Good night.'

* * *

**End of Chapter - 14**


	15. Desert goggles

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 15 - Desert goggles  
**

* * *

_I was on the main square of Treasure Town. A lot of Pokemon were around me. I recognized a few guild members among them. Riley and Ozu were standing next to me._

_A Magnezone entered the scene. The crowd moved aside and let the steel-type float towards the center of the square._

_Two Magnemite's were following it and a Pokemon I couldn't recognize was between them. The crowd occupied my vision._

_The Magnezone stopped when it reached the center. "We were finally able to capture the timegear-thief!"_

_My eyes shot open. 'What?! No!'_

_I pushed myself through the crowd. 'No, it can't be! There's no way they could have captured Grovyle.' _

_When I was finally able to see the captured Pokemon, I gasped._

_A Riolu was looking at me with its red eyes. Its hands were cuffed up and a muzzle was bound around its mouth.  
_

_"Did you really think they would believe you?" a voice said from behind me._

_I turned around to see Dusknoir look at me with his soul piercing eye.  
_

_The stare froze me. "What? I don't..."_

_I turned around to look at the Riolu again... It was nowhere to be found. _

_Suddenly, I felt the cuffs and the muzzle on myself. 'What?!' _

_I grunted and tried to get the bindings off of me.  
_

_All of the other Pokemon created a circle around me... Two of them stepped forward. _

_A Pikachu and a Chimchar. My friends.  
_

_Not able to talk with the leather-band around my snout, I could only give them a pleading look._

_"You really thought that we would believe this crazy story about some dark future?" Ozu said with a evil smirk.  
_

_The Pikachu was giving me the same look she had given me right after the expedition. _

_"All those lies... I hope you drown in them." Riley said coldly._

_At that moment, I lost the ground beneath my feet and fell into a sea of darkness._

* * *

"AAAAAHHHH!" I screamed as my eyes shot open.

My breath was trembling and my fur was soaked in sweat.

"Whoa, what's wrong?!" My scream was loud enough to wake up my friends.

I slowly sat up. I was in my bed, back at the guild. 'Oh god... It was just a dream...'

My friends had worried expressions on their faces.

"Are you okay, Ri?" Ozu asked, his voice full of concern.

My breathing was still inconsistent but I was able to answer. "... Just... A Nightmare..."

The fire-type got up from his bed and walked over to me.

"Hey, it's alright..." he said, sitting down next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder.

After a while, my body calmed down again. "Thank you... I'm okay again... That dream just... Ugh..."

Ozu got up again. "Well, the sun has already risen... Should we get up?"

I nodded and hopped out of my bed. Riley did the same and tied her red scarf around her neck.

Loudred opened up our door when we were just done to put on our gear.

"Oh... MORNING!" he greeted with a surprised look.

"Morning!" we called back before we followed him out of the room.

My friends and I headed into the main room and walked up to our usual spot.

The nightmare still bugged me.

'Why would my mind come up with something like this? Ugh... I just have to forget about it... My friends would never say something like that...'

That thought made me look at Riley. The Pikachu gave me a smile when she noticed my stare.

'Yeah... Just a stupid nightmare.'

The other guild members slowly entered the room and Wigglytuff and Chatot came out of the guildmaster's office.

We had to wait for probably another minute before Dusknoir floated down from the first floor.

The guildmaster greeted him happily and Chatot took one step forward, beginning the briefing.

"Okay, everyone! Today we are starting our search for the timegear-thief Grovyle!" the flying-type started. "Thanks to the great Dusknoir, we were able to find the possible locations of the remaining Time Gears."

The parrot-like Pokemon pulled out an enrolled map. "Put out your Wondermaps! I'm going to announce which team is going to patrol which area!"

Everybody opened up their own maps.

"Okay now! Listen up!" the flying-type got everyone's attention again.

Chatot proceeded by calling out groups of up to four Pokemon for each location.

We were the last group he announced. At that point, I already knew where we would be going.

"Team Ignition! You are going to explore Quicksand Desert!"

The flying-type showed us the desert on our map. It was at the northwestern part of the continent.

Ozu rolled up our map again and put it back into his backpack. "Understood!"

"Everyone! We have no idea what this thief is capable of! But considering that he was able to defeat a legendary Pokemon like Uxie, I must tell you to engage him with caution!" Chatot ordered. "Get to it and catch that thief!"

"HURRAY!" the whole guild cheered... Well, except for me and Dusknoir.

The others slowly left the room and right when me and my friends wanted to head out too, Dusknoir approached us. "Good luck!"

"Thank you, Dusknoir!" Riley replied with a smile.

The ghost-type's eye focused on me. "Be careful... You don't know what kind of fighting-style this Grovyle could use..."

'Did he just?... No...'

"We will! See ya!" Ozu responded.

We headed out of the guild and made our way towards the crossroad.

"Quicksand Desert... I heard that there are a lot of sandstorms... Should we do a quick stop at Kecleon's Market to prepare ourselves properly before we head out?" Ozu asked as we walked down the stairs, leading to the crossing.

"What kind of preparations do you mean?" Riley asked.

"Well, let's see if they can recommend us any gear that would be useful in a desert..." he answered.

"Fine by me." I responded.

Instead of taking the left path, we headed right and entered Treasure Town.

* * *

We made our way to the market and approached the counter.

"Hello, there!" Propo greeted when he noticed us.

"What can we do for you?" Verd asked with a smile.

"Hi! Well, we have a mission in the northern desert... Do you have some special gear that would make the job easier for us?" Ozu answered.

In a matter of second, the green Kecleon had pulled out a couple of items. A wide assortment of headscarves, desert coats and goggles was laying on the table in front of us.

"Of course we do!" he exclaimed.

"These desert coats will protect your body from the burning heat of the desert." Porpo explained, holding up one of the coats.

The cream-colored cloak had a hood attached to it. "No sunray will go through the sturdy fabric!"

Ozu took one of them and examined it. "What do you say? Should we buy them?"

"Sure!" me and Riley returned in union.

He had a embarrassed look on his face all of a sudden.

"Uhm... It would be great for you two but... Ehm..." The fire-type pointed at the flame that was coming out of his rear.

"Oh, don't worry! We have a special coat for fire-types too. That flame won't even leave a mark on it." the green Kecleon said, pulling another cloak.

This one was decorated with red lines around the bottom and the hood.

"Okay! We'll take them!" Ozu said with a smile, giving back the coat he was holding in his hand.

A wide smile formed on the shopkeeper's faces. "Can we interest you in one of the other items too? Those desert goggles would fit perfectly with those cloaks."

I grabbed one of them from the counter. The metal-frames for the glass had black-colored leather bands attached to them.

"They are very helpful, should you stumble into a sandstorm." Porpo explained.

A strange feeling rushed through my body while I examined them.

When a familiar headache entered my brain, I knew what was going on. Another memory.

_The edges of my vision were covered with the black flickering smoke again. I wasn't able to see where exactly I was. A black paw with a spike on its backside entered my view. A pair of desert goggles could be seen in it. I rose my head and saw the familiar black figure again. Like usual, the black smoke around it began to occupy my whole vision. _

_"I've got a little present for you..."_

"Ri?" I recognized Ozu's voice.

I shook my head and regained my awareness of reality. "Huh, what?"

"What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned voice.

Riley and the Kecleon brothers were giving me a confused look.

"Oh, sorry... Just a little headache..." I explained.

'The figure again... Ugh... I can't even remember that shred properly...'

The Chimchar gave me one last worried look, before he faced the shopkeepers again. "We will take three cloaks and two goggles..."

"That would be 2500 Poke..." Verd replied.

Ozu hesitated a bit before he pulled out a purse from his backpack.

"Here you go..." he said, handing the money over to the normal-type.

"Thanks a lot!" both of the Kecleons replied in union.

Ozu handed one cloak to Riley and one to me before he put on his own.

I put on the coat and bound it together with a leather band that was attached to the collar.

After that, I examined the glasses one more time before I tied them around my neck like a necklace.

Riley put her goggles into her pouch that was now under her cloak.

"You three look good!" Verd complimented us.

"Thank you!" we returned.

"Okay, we should get going." Ozu said as he turned towards the bridge, leading to the main square. "Bye!"

The Pikachu and I said good-bye too and followed him.

At the exit of Treasure Town, the fire-type made a little stop to check the map again.

After he had planned our route, we left the town and began our journey towards the desert.

* * *

We had only taken a few steps out of the town, when Ozu spoke up again.

"Another memory shred?" he questioned.

"Memory shred?" Riley threw in before I could answer.

I let out a deep sigh before I answered both of their questions. "I have these weird memory shreds sometimes... And after they shoot through my head, I'm not even able to remember them properly. The one I had back at the shop was the same..."

"Oh... Ri, you should really ask Chimecho about it... Maybe she can stop those headaches." the Chimchar suggested.

"I... don't want them to stop. They are the only connection to my past, I have." I returned with a serious voice.

"Did you remember something about your human life?" the Pikachu asked.

"No... We've already talked about all the things I remembered." I said with a sad tone.

She seemed a bit disappointed but after a while, she gave me a smile. "Well, you can call yourself lucky for those memories. The only thing I have is my name..."

"And the Dimensional Scream..." I added.

'Maybe she could use it to see the dark future or something about Grovyle... Hmmm... My pouch belonged to him... Yeah, that could work!"

The Pikachu gave me a somewhat confused look after my last comment.

'But I need to help Grovyle before that...'

* * *

The rest of our journey went by without any distractions.

The cloaks were a bit uncomfortable, before we reached the border of the desert but when we took our first step onto the sandy terrain, we were happy we had them.

The sun was brutal... Even with our equipment, I felt like I was melting. The hood provided my eyes a little protection from the bright light.

"It sure is hot..." Ozu muttered to himself.

"What are we looking for anyway?" Riley asked. Her voice sounded annoyed. The heat must have gotten on her nerves too.

"Well, there is something like a little canyon on the other side of the desert... Chatot mentioned that it's a Mystery Dungeon." he answered, wiping off some sweat from his chin. "I think we should explore it and see if we can find a Time Gear there..."

The fire-type was giving me a strange look all of a sudden. "Hey, Ri... Is it okay if we talk about the symbol-thing?"

"Symbol?" The Pikachu got confused.

"What about it?" I questioned, being rather curious about what he could want.

"Remember how it only showed up when you were near the Time Gear from the lake?" he asked. "Maybe it will show up again if we get near another one of them."

I pulled out my right paw from under my cloak and examined it. "It could work... I still have no idea what that thing is though. Maybe we can find out more about the symbol if we actually find another Time Gear..."

"What are you two talking about?" Riley looked a little upset.

"Well... Back at the expedition, when Uxie lead us to Fogbound Lake, a weird symbol began to glow on my paw." I explained.

"And it looked exactly like the gear, so I assume that it has to do something with them." the Chimchar added.

The electric-type processed the information, before she nodded in understanding. "So if that symbol shows up again, we know that we are at the right place."

* * *

Moving over the sand dunes was tough. We had to be careful not to slip and slide all the way down again.

Whenever one of us got thirsty or exhausted, we ate an Oran berry. Not only did they give us back our energy, they also rehydrated us.

After a couple of hours of walking, we were finally able to see the canyon.

"Look! I think that's the canyon!" I exclaimed. "Were almost there!"

Just then, the ground began to tremble.

**BGM: Barroth ~ Earth Sand and Firey Winds - Monster Hunter Tri (Extended)**

"Whoa, what is this?!" Ozu yelled, trying to keep his balance.

The sand in front of us slowly rose into the air.

"Quick! Get back!" I shouted at my friends, creating some distance between me and the rising ground with a jump.

They quickly ran next to me.

The hump of sand slowly revealed a creature. A purple, scorpion-like Pokemon was revealed as the sand slowly fell down from its body.

A huge Drapion was now towering in front of us. It had probably ten times of my height.

The scorpion looked down at us in a really strange way... Like I would have looked at an apple on my plate. 'Oh no...'

"What is this thing?!" Riley asked with a shocked expression on her face.

Ozu had to gulp before he could answer. "A Drapion! But they shouldn't be this big!"

The poison-type let out a roar before it slammed its right claw down at us.

We were able to jump out of the impact-zone and the huge purple arm simply dug into the sand.

The impact stirred up a lot of dust and occupied my vision on my friends.

'Dammit... How are we supposed to defeat something like this thing?! My normal moves won't have any effect!'

The giant Pokemon's eyes focused on me as its other claw shot towards me.

I used Extremespeed to evade the slash and quickly dashed behind the poison-type. 'Ugh... I could try to widdle it down with a few overcharged bones...'

After creating two bones in my paws, I jumped high up into the air, right above the Drapion's back.

The scorpion was attacking my friends at that moment, meaning that it was not paying any attention to me. 'Clear shot.'

By combining my ranged attack with Extremespeed, I was able to dish out a barrage of explosive bones at the Drapions back.

Another roar escaped the poison-type's mouth as it began to feel the impact from my attack.

I spun my body around and used Aerial Ace to fling myself towards my friends. My landing between them was a bit hard but the sand managed to soften my impact.

A cloud of smoke was streaming up from the Drapions back and I could clearly see that it was in pain. The ground-type move was super-effective after all.

I was feeling drained and panted. My assault had used up a lot of aura.

"Are you okay?" Ozu asked when he noticed.

"Yeah..." I answered weakly. "We need to make a run for it. My attack won't stop that thing for long!"

We quickly ran past the huge scorpion and tried to reach the entrance of the dungeon.

The now enraged Pokemon turned around and followed us. The scorpion was able to travel over the sand much faster than us, meaning that it would catch up to us soon.

"Isn't there something we can do?" Ozu called over to me while we were running for our lives.

The Drapion was coming closer and closer as we struggled to run over the dunes.

"Just run for the dungeon!" I called back.

We had almost reached the entrance to the canyon when I heard a scream next to me.

Riley had slipped and fell down onto her face.

I dug my feet into the ground to slow myself down.

"Keep going! I'll get her!" I ordered while I turned around and concentrated on Extremespeed.

When I pushed my right foot into the sand, to launch myself forward, the soft surface gave in and made me lose my balance. 'Dammit!'

The Pikachu had just gotten up when the huge poison-type brought down its claw towards her.

I could only watch with wide open eyes as the purple arm slowly came closer to her. "RILEY!"

I closed my eyes when the giant claw was just about to crush her. 'No...'

My eyes shot open when something grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards.

I turned around to see Riley, pulling me towards the entrance of the dungeon.'What?! How did she...?'

Just then I heard the sound from the impact behind us.

We quickly catched up to Ozu. I took one last glimpse of the poison-type which was trying to pull out its arm from the sand.

When we finally reached the opening that lead into the canyon, we quickly rushed inside to hide from the monster.

**Stop** **music**

* * *

The "dungeon feeling" ran through my body again, when we entered the first floor of the dungeon.

My friends and I were panting hard, trying to catch out breath from the long sprint.

"That was... close." Riley said, giving me a grin.

"How... did you... do that?" I asked.

The Pikachu just gave me a smile. "Well, that's my secret."

She emphasized on the "my", what made me feel a little uneasy.

"Okay... We made it to the dungeon..." The Chimchar let out a sigh of relief. "Now we just have to make it through."

Riley took the lead, while Ozu and I followed. Just like usual.

The dungeon had a lot of ground and rock-types in it. Though I was able to see cactus-like grass-types too.

My friends had a bad type-matchup for this dungeon, meaning that I had to fight most of our battles.

I used the modified Gavylian-style and tried to master the new movements. My first few strikes weren't as effective as they would have been with the original style. Most of the wild Pokemon were able to withstand more than one hit.

But after a while, I was getting close to the force the swipes could deliver.

We were probably halfway through the dungeon when a sandstorm came up.

I untied the desert goggles from my neck and put them on. They were really helpful. Without them, I wouldn't have seen anything in the storm.

After we had explored the floor for a while, we found the source of the sandstorm.

When we entered a room, a Tyranitar stared at us with a bloodthirsty look.

Two overcharged bones and a Force Palm to the rock and dark-type's stomach took care of the problem. The Pokemon faded into black smoke and the sandstorm slowly ended.

With the storm gone, I tied my glasses around my neck again.

The remaining floors didn't cause any trouble for us. And we quickly arrived at the last pair of stairs.

* * *

We finally left the dungeon and found ourselves at the other side of the canyon. Rock formations and few pits of quicksand were all around us.

"And now?" Riley questioned with a confused face.

There was no visible way to go on.

'Hmmm... What did Grovyle say about the desert? Something about quicksand and a lake... But can I let them find the Time Gear? I'm sure they would send someone to protect it...'

"It's a dead-end... I think we should head back." I suggested.

"Huh? Why?" Ozu seemed a bit surprised.

The Pikachu next to me seemed to be in deep thought all of a sudden... She didn't even respond to my suggestion.

"Have you checked your paw yet? Maybe the symbol did show up again." the fire-type was persistent.

'Ugh... If it really showed up, they would insist on exploring further... But... I could learn more about it.'

I hesitated a moment before I pulled out my paw from my cloak.

A sigh of relief and at the same time disappointment, escaped my mouth. "Nope... I guess we are wrong here."

"Oh..." he seemed a bit disappointed too. "Well, I guess we should head back and report that we didn't find anything."

The fire-type pulled out his explorer-badge. He poked Riley's shoulder and pulled her pack into reality. "Are you ready?"

"Huh... Oh, okay." she replied, pulling out her own badge.

I hesitated a bit before I considered to take out mine too. 'Wait... If Grovyle hasn't been to the desert yet... Maybe I could leave him a message.'

"What's wrong Ri?" Ozu asked, noticing that my badge was still missing.

"Oh, you don't have to wait for me... Just gotta look for my badge really quick." I answered, acting like I was looking for something in my pouch.

My friends shrugged and pressed onto the buttons on their badges. They disappeared with a bright flash of light.

'What now? Write something into the sand? No... Ugh, if I had a piece of pa...'

Just then I remembered Dusknoir's autograph that I still had in my pouch.

'That's it! The "HELLO" would tell Grovlye that I was here before him! And Dusknoir's signature... That would inform him about Duskoir! And if Dusknoir sends somebody else from the guild here and they find it, I could just say that I lost it here...'

I immediately executed my idea and placed the paper in front of the biggest quicksand pit. A little stone on top of it hindered the sheet from flying away.

After my plan was done, I quickly pulled out my badge and pressed the button.

A bright light engulfed me and when I regained my vision again, I found myself back in front of the staircase that lead to the guild.

It was late afternoon by now.

"What took you so long?" Riley questioned. "We were getting worried."

I put my badge back into my "hip-pouch" and rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry, couldn't find my badge."

We made our way back into the guild and approached the guildmaster's office.

Riley knocked onto the door a couple of times and after a few seconds, Chatot walked out of the room.

"Oh, Team Ignition." he said, closing the door behind him. "Were you able to find something?"

"Uhm... No... We were able to clear the dungeon but only found a dead-end at the other side." Ozu reported with a somewhat disappointed voice.

"Oh... I see." The flying-type seemed to be disappointed too.

"Well, we can only hope that the other teams might find something! We will go over our finding at dinner... You are dismissed!" he continued, turning towards the door again.

My friends and I headed into our room and put off our desert coats. I wanted to take off the goggles too but when I held them in my paw I decided to put the back onto my neck again. Something about them seemed familiar to me. I just didn't know what.

"Whew... Ready for some more training?" I asked the Chimchar with a smirk.

"Actually... How about we go to Torkoal's Spring today? A bath would be great after that walk in the desert." he answered.

Just then I noticed how dirty my fur was. It was full of sand and the blue was now mixed with a cream/grayish color.

"A bath would sure be nice!" I said, rubbing the back of my head again.

"Okay, let's go!" Riley said with a smile on her face.

We left the guild and headed to the exit of Treasure Town again.

My friends lead me to the hot spring and it took us about half an hour to reach it.

A little staircase lead up to the spring which was on top of a small hill.

The pond was edged with stones and steaming water was inside the it.

A few Pokemon were already bathing in the spring and a Torkoal was standing on a big rock at other side of the pool.

I recognized one of the bathing Pokemon.

"Marowak?" I asked as me and my friends walked up to the water.

He looked rather embarrassed to see us. "Ri! Ozu! Riley! What are you three doing here?"

"We want to take a bath of course!" I gave the dojo-owner a mischievous grin. "The better question should be what you are doing here."

The ground-type turned even redder than he already was. "Oh... Ehm... I just had a really, really hard training session and nobody visited the dojo, so..."

"Well, how about you come out here for a second... I worked on the new style today and I think I got the hang of the new movements. I need you to see if it's really finished or not." I ordered with a smile.

The Marowak quickly climbed out from the spring and the two of us created some distance between us and the spring.

My friends had already hopped into the hot water when I created the two bones in my paws. The other Pokemon seemed to be curious about what I would demonstrate.

"Okay! Show me the new movements!" Marowak instructed, crossing his arms.

I did as told and showed him all of Grovyle's modified movements. I was able to do the back-stab motion fluidly after the dash now.

When all I was finished, I let my bones disappear and walked up to Marowak.

"I would say that you're good to go!" he said with a smile. "How should we name that new style of yours?"

"A new name?" I asked, bringing my paw up to my chin.

"Hmm... Well, it should be something that describes it's new purpose..." It took me a while, but I was able to come up with a new fitting name.

"Gentok-style? You know, "Gentle Knockout "... It would fit..." I suggested.

The ground-type shrugged. "It's your style, so it's your name... I think it fits."

A smile formed on my face. "Thank you, Marowak!"

I looked over to my friends who were looking at me from the spring.

A mischievous grin formed on my face when I faced Marowak again. "Now would you excuse me? I'm going to check out that spring now."

With that, I threw off all my equipment and rushed towards the water. I jumped up into the air, preparing a water bomb.

A huge wave slammed onto my friends and all the other Pokemon, when I made impact.

Not my greatest idea.

The water was hot... Like really hot...

"Ahh! Hot! Dammit! Aaahhh!" I screamed as I tried to get out of the pond.

At first, the other Pokemon felt offended but when they saw my struggle to puddle out of the water, they simply burst into laughter.

When I finally reached the edge of the pool, my body had already gotten used to the heat.

I let out a deep sigh while I slowly walked up to my friends, who were still laughing from the scene they just had witnessed.

"Ugh... At least we're clean now!" I said, rubbing the back of my head.

We probably stayed at the spring for an hour until we had to head back to the guild for dinner.

When I stepped out of the pool, my fur was soaked in water. I dried myself off by shaking my body like a dog would have.

Riley gave me a somewhat shocked look.

When I noticed what I had just done I turned red. "Ehehe... I guess I'm really used to being a Riolu."

My friends and I said good-bye to everyone and made our way back to Treasure Town.

After another half hour, we arrived at the guild.

* * *

We climbed down to the second floor and made a quick stop at our room to take off our gear.

Just then, Chimecho announced the dinner and we quickly made our way to the dinning hall.

I frowned when Dusknoir joined us and sat down next to me again.

Before we began to eat, Chatot got everyone's attention. "Okay, everyone! I'm sad to announce that not a single one of our teams was able to find the location of a Time Gear or a trace of Grovyle!"

A sigh escaped the flying-type's mouth. "We are going to continue our search tomorrow... I will explain our next approach at the morning briefing."

The parrot took place on his seat again. "Enjoy your meals!"

I had eaten about two and a half apples, when Dusknoir poked my shoulder.

"Did you find anything in the desert?" he questioned. "Quicksand Desert was one of our main guesses."

'Heh, sure it was... You know where the Time Gears are.'

I took another bite from the apple, I was holding in my paw. "Nope... We just found a giant Drapion that tried to kill us and a dead-end with a couple of quicksand pits."

"Oh... Well, that's too bad." he responded.

The ghost-type luckily didn't ask any more questions.

We finished our meals and my friends and I headed into our room.

I sat onto my bed and untied the goggles from my neck.

My friends were talking about something, however, I wasn't paying attention to them.

Just like earlier, I examined the glasses for a while before I put them next to my bed.

I didn't know why they looked so familiar to me. They were just a pair of goggles but whenever I looked at them, a weird feeling rushed through my body... It almost felt like I was missing something... Or someone.

"Ri?" Ozu asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "What do you say? Should we check out the desert again?"

"Huh? Why?" I was a little surprised by his question.

"Well, I think that that dead-end, wasn't a dead-end after all!" Riley explained with a serious look. "I don't know how... But I think I've been in that desert before."

Sweat was forming on my forehead. 'Right... She has been there in the future... But what if Grovyle shows up there tomorrow? Ugh...'

"I don't think that it would be a good idea. Remember that giant Drapion? We might not be so lucky like we have been today!" I tried to dissuade her.

"But tomorrow we know that the thing is there! We can try to bypass it's territory!" The Pikachu was persistent.

"But the symbol didn't..." I tried one more time but she interrupted me.

"Please! I know that something is there!" There was nothing I could say to stop her.

'But... Ugh... I just hope Grovyle won't be there. And the message I left for him... I already have a plausible explanation for it.'

I let out a deep sigh. "Fine."

We kept on talking for a while until the lack of sunlight in our room indicated us that it was nighttime.

"Well, I guess we should rest. We might have to outrun that Drapion again." Riley said, giving me a grin.

"Not funny." I replied blankly. "I was really worried about you back then."

Her grin faded and she looked a bit guilty for her carefree attitude towards her near-death situation. "Sorry..."

I brought myself into a comfortable sleeping position. "Good night."

"Good night..." my friends returned.

I had a lot to think about but I just wanted to get some sleep... The stress from the last couple of days really tired me out.

Not wanting to stress my brain even further, I tried to put my mind to rest and simply drift into sleep.

A few thoughts simply wouldn't leave my head.

'What if we meet him tomorrow? Should I just tell them right away? What if they would try to fight him? I... Who should I fight then? Ugh...'

That last thought worried me the most.

'Which side would I choose if my friends wouldn't listen to me?'

I pushed that question away and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 15**


	16. Deal with the Devil

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Deal with the Devil**

* * *

_"I'm... I'm not Riley." I said to the Grovyle in front of me._

_Something about him was off. His normally black iris had an ice-blue color which sent a shiver down my spine for some reason.  
_

_His head sank towards the ground as he extended the leaves on his arms. "You're not?"_

_Shocked by his reaction, I took one step back. "B-but I will still help you!"_

_"It doesn't matter. I can't risk that some random Riolu knows everything about my mission." The grass-type took one step forward, raising his blade._

_"Grovyle! Please, I can-" A slash to my chest silenced me._

* * *

I gasped and my eyes shot open. My whole body jumped and was covered in sweat.

Sitting myself up, I brought my right paw to my forehead.

'Oh my god... Another nightmare...'

My friends were still asleep and a faint ray of sunlight was shining through our window.

My breath was trembling as I tried to calm down from the unpleasant dream.

'I... Grovyle would never do something like that. Ugh... Don't think about it. Just another dream.'

After a shocking scene like that, there was no way I would be able to sleep again.

I grabbed the goggles that were laying next to my bed and tied them around my neck again.

After that, I hopped out of my bed and put on the rest of my gear.

Riley and Ozu woke up from the noise I made.

"Ri?" the Chimchar asked groggily, rubbing his eyes in the process.

"Morning." I responded with a forced smile.

"Good morning." my friends returned in union.

After a while, they had gotten out of their beds too and made themselves ready for the briefing.

When our door slowly opened and Loudred was just about to make his morning call, the three of us interrupted him.

"Up and at 'em. It's morning."

The normal-type had to laugh for a while before he responded. "Hahaha, MORNING!"

We returned his smile and followed him out of our room.

At the main hall, we walked to our usual spot and waited for the briefing to begin.

After a couple of minutes, everyone was present and Chatot took one step forward to begin his morning speech.

"Today, we are going to continue our search for Grovyle! We might not have been able to find the actual location of a Time Gear, but we can still patrol the area's in order to find the thief!" the flying-type announced. "You are free to choose which location you want to operate in! Okay! Get to it!"

While the other guild members headed to the ladder, me and my friends went back to our room to grab our desert cloaks.

After putting them on, we left the guild and made out way to the desert again.

* * *

On the way, I was worried to meet Grovyle. That nightmare had brought up yet another fear, which stressed me out even more.

The journey didn't take us as long as last time. We already knew the right way to go.

When we reached the border of the desert again, we stopped.

"Do you really think we can outrun that thing again?" the Chimchar asked anxiously.

"Or we could try to beat it." I suggested, trying to figure out a strategy to defeat the giant Pokemon. "Either way, we should get going... We still need to get through that desert."

It took us a couple hours to see the canyon again. At first, we were very cautious because of the huge poison-type that could've popped up any moment.

But after crossing a big dune, our anxiety turned into shock.

The Drapion we had feared was laying motionless on the ground in front of us.

The sand around it was covered with a green liquid and a lot of deep cuts could be seen on the poison-type.

A loud whimper escape the giant's mouth when it noticed us.

"Oh my god." The scene sent a shiver down my spine.

"W-what should we do?" Ozu stuttered. "W-we could just leave it and walk straight for the canyon."

"No..." I answered with a serious voice. "If we don't help that Drapion, it might... Ugh..."

"But Ri! That thing tried to kill us just yesterday!" he responded.

"I don't care!" I yelled back at him. "Come on! I need your help!"

I ran down the dune we were standing on and approached the injured Pokemon.

There was only one Pokemon that could have cut up that giant like this.

'He... Grovyle was here! But that means... Ugh... I don't have time to think about that now, I need to help this Drapion.'

My friends followed me when I walked up to the giant's mouth.

"I don't think one that Oran berry will be enough..." I muttered, pulling out a paw full of berries from my pouch.

The huge Pokemon's eyes were watching us closely as we tried to bring up enough berries that would help something of it's size.

Both of my paws were full when I held the pile of Oran berries directly in front of the Drapions mouth.

Another whimper came from the scorpion before it opened up its maw.

After throwing the berries into it, we quickly created some distance between us and the poison-type.

The scorpion-like Pokemon swallowed the berries and immediately got back onto its feet.

A roar of joy escaped the Drapion's mouth.

The Pokemon was giving me a wide smile when it brought it's head down to me and my friends.

"Uhm... No problem..." I said nervously.

"What is it doing?" the scared Chimchar next to me asked.

The giant was buzzing happily with his mandibles and gave me a thankful look.

A chuckle escaped Riley's mouth. "I think it likes you!"

I responded with a somewhat annoyed smile before I faced the Drapion again.

"Well, we gotta go now. And by the way, I'm sorry for your back." I said, taking one step away from the Pokemon.

It shook its head in response, indicating me that it was all forgotten.

"Thank you." I was relieved that the Drapion didn't hold a grudge against me.

The scorpion let out another happy roar before it slowly walked to a sandpit that was a couple of feet away from us.

When the giant Pokemon approached the hole, a swarm of Skorupi crawled out of the nest. The poison-type bent down to the little Pokemon and nudged them with its head.

"Oh, I understand now! That Drapion is a mother! She just wanted to protect her babies when she attacked us yesterday." Ozu concluded.

"More like feed them..." I commented, remembering the first time we met the scorpion.

The mother and her babies were giving us one last smile before we waved at them and turned around to continue our journey.

* * *

On the way, I went back to my thoughts about Grovyle.

'If it really was Grovyle who did that to the Drapion... That means he is here! Those wounds looked pretty fresh. He would be in the dungeon right now... Ugh... We could run into him... I need to buy him some time to get the Time Gear.'

We reached the canyon again. I stopped my friends before they could enter the dungeon.

"Uhm... Can we make a little rest?" I asked.

They were a little surprised. "Huh? Why?"

"Well, I'm a little exhausted from the journey... I want to be fit when we go through that dungeon again." I answered.

They shrugged and sat down onto the ground. "Okay."

'Okay... Now I just need to waste some more time in the dungeon and Grovyle should be good to go.'

We used the break and had a little lunch. Ozu pulled out three apples from his backpack and handed one to each of us.

This time, I tried to eat the apples with "normal" speed, which resulted in confused looks from my friends.

Eating that slow was quite hard for me actually.

After we had finished our meals, we entered the dungeon.

Just like yesterday, I handled most of our confrontations.

Though this time, I purposely didn't knock out the wild Pokemon in one hit. This gave me some time to work on my normal hand to hand combat.

My friends found it a little odd, but I just told them that I wanted to train my normal fighting-style. A believable excuse.

To my dismay, the layout of the floors was very simple. Most of the times, we just had to clear one room to find the staircase that lead to the next floor.

Though we lost some time when we "luckily" came across a Monsterhouse.

It felt like we had been in the dungeon for about half an hour until we arrived the the final staircase.

We left the dungeon and found ourselves at the dead-end again.

"Okay, here we are. What now?" Ozu questioned looking at the Pikachu next to him.

She was rubbing her chin with her paw. "I don't know... I think that there is some secret behind those quicksand pits."

While she was speculating, I looked for the note I had left for Grovyle.

My friends were discussing about possible solutions to the "dead-end problem", when I walked up to spot where I had placed the paper.

Dusknoir's autograph was gone.

'He... He found it! Okay... Grovyle was definitively here. But... Has he found the Time Gear yet? And if he did... He would have to come back here. If we wait too long... Ugh...'

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT?!" Ozu yelled, drawing my attention to my friends again.

"Hey, it's worth a try!" Riley replied with a confident look.

I walked back to my friends. "What is worth a try?"

"She wants to jump into the quicksand!" the Chimchar explained, visibly shocked by the idea.

"Jump into the pit?" I tried to remember what Grovyle told me about Quicksand Desert. 'Hmm... Grovyle mentioned something about a lake... Maybe... There could be a lake or a cave-system under that quicksand.'

Ozu was yelling at the Pikachu, telling her how stupid and dangerous her idea was, when a noise made my ears twitch.

"Pssst..." I looked into the direction it was coming from.

A gasp escaped my mouth and my eyes shot open when I saw the head of a Grovyle, peeking out from behind a boulder.

'It... It's him! I... need to find a way to...'

"So what do you think?" Riley asked, patting me on the shoulder.

Her touch made me jump. "Huh?! What?!"

"Should we try it?" The Pikachu gave me a confused look when she noticed my shocked expression. "Are you alright? You're a little pale..."

"Oh... Uhm... Yeah, I'm fine." I said nervously, taking a quick glance behind me. Grovyle was nowhere to be seen.

"What do you think?" Ozu threw in with a worried voice.

I brought my paw up to my chin, resulting in expectant looks from my friends. 'Okay... I need to find a way to split up with them... They want to jump into the sand pits... I need to find an excuse to stay up here a little longer... Hmmm... Wait... I know!'

"Hey, Ozu. Do you still have that rope in your backpack?" I asked, putting my hand down.

The Chimchar immediately understood what I was thinking of. "That could work." He put his backpack on the ground and pulled the rope out of it.

"Okay, I'll hold it and pull you back up if something happens!" I said, grabbing the rope out of his hand.

He nodded and helped me to unroll it.

"Okay, I'm going to bind it around my belly and hold you two up. Just bind the rope around you too. If you find something down there, pull on it three times and I'll follow you." I explained, beginning to attach the rope to my body.

"Are you sure you can hold the both of us? And what if there's nothing down there and we sufficate in the sand?" Ozu's anxiety wasn't very helpful at that moment.

The Pikachu grabbed his shoulder. "We will find something! I know we will!"

The still not convinced Chimchar gave her a worried look. "How can you say that?"

"I just know... Come on! Don't you trust me?" she asked.

Her question changed something in the fire-type. His anxious attitude was blown away immediately. "I do... Okay, let's do this!"

After everything was set, my friends walked up to the biggest quicksand pit.

"Okay... We're going to do this!" Riley announced, preparing herself to jump into the pit.

"Are you ready, Ri?" Ozu asked, getting ready himself.

I gave them a thumb up and fastened my grip on the rope.

"Three!" The Chimchar started the countdown.

"Two!" the Pikachu continued.

"One!" I exclaimed.

"GO!" we yelled in union as my friends jumped into the quicksand.

A scream escaped their mouths as they got swallowed by the sand.

When they were completely gone, I began to feel the pull from the rope.

Just when I wanted to call out to Grovyle, the sand under my feet gave in and I slowly began to slide towards the hole.

"Dammit!" I yelled, trying to get some grip on the sand.

The edge was coming closer and closer as I struggled to keep myself from falling into the quicksand.

Suddenly, a green blur moved into the corner of my view and the pull stopped.

Grovyle was holding onto the rope with his left claw. The leaves on his other arm were extended and just about to cut through the rope.

"No! Don't!" I shouted.

He stopped his blade right before it was about to touch it.

The grass-type looked into my eyes with a confused look.

"Okay, there isn't much time to explain everything!" I said, feeling the three pulls from my friends. "That Warp Orb teleported me to an exploration guild. They fixed me up and I joined one of their teams... They got a wanted poster from you and now whole Treasure Town is looking for you! Dusknoir is here too!"

Grovyle wanted to open his mouth and ask a question, but I interrupted him and kept going.

"Listen... Me and my friends are looking for the Time Gear right now. If we find it, the guild is going to sent a lot of guards here, so you need to take it now! Wait a moment before you follow us down there. Should we meet... Ugh... You might have to fight us... I will act like I'm defeated after one hit and maybe hinder my friends from fighting... But if they still decide to keep going... Please! Don't hurt them! When I'm back at the guild I can see if Dusknoir plans any traps for you, so we have to meet again at Crystal Cave! I will explain you everything when we meet there."

He processed all the information and gave me a nod. "Okay, Riley."

The name made me bite my lip. "There is else something I have to tell you..."

The grass-type's expression turned confused again.

"I'm... I'm not... Ugh..."

I hesitated before I tried to continue.

The full sentence never left my lips.

A strong pull from the rope made him lose his grip and dragged me into the quicksand. "Aaah!"

My vision went black as the sand quickly surrounded me.

A claustrophobic feeling rushed through my body. I wasn't able to move an inch, while the sand around me dragged me down.

Luckily, it didn't last very long. My feet pushed through the ceiling of what was underneath the pit.

The rest of my body followed and I fell down onto a sand hump. I fell directly onto my tail what sent a jolt of pain through my whole body. "Ngh!"

I got back onto my feet and nursed my tail with my paws. "God damn that hurts..."

After letting my tail swing back behind me, I inspected my surroundings. I was in a circular room with a huge pile of sand in the middle. Thin streams of sand were falling down from above.

"We did it!" Ozu cheered from behind me.

I turned around and faced my friends.

They were untying the rope around their bellies. I did the same and Ozu put the rope back into his backpack.

My head sank towards the ground. 'Dammit... I couldn't tell him...'

"Come on, Ri! Let's see if we can find the Time Gear!" Riley said, making me rise my head again.

"Keep an eye on your paw!" she added, pointing at my hand under my cloak.

"Right." I nodded.

* * *

We walked deeper into the cave-system and found that it was a dungeon.

The Pokemon we encountered were pretty much the same one's we have seen up in the canyon. The only difference was that most of them were fully evolved.

We also saw a few bat-like Pokemon. A few Zubat and Noibat flew around at the ceiling of the hallways.

One of them tried to confuse us with its Supersonic. My friends were hit and got disoriented. I calmed myself down and used the Own Tempo ability, Spinda had taught me. The sound-wave went right through me and... Nothing happened.

I smirked and knocked the Zubat out with a kick to its face.

After that I had to collect my friends, who were stumbling aimlessly through the room.

After a while, we finally reached the last staircase.

A huge cavern with a lake in the middle was in front of us when we came out of the dungeon. A turquoise light was luminating from the bottom of the underground lake.

"Wow..." Ozu seemed to be amazed by what he saw.

I immediately knew what the source of the light was, when I pulled my paw out from under my cloak.

"Look, it's glowing again."

My friends walked up to me and examined the symbol at the back of my hand.

"It really looks like a gear..." Riley commented.

Ozu quickly turned around and ran to the edge of the water.

He gasped while we were slowly walking up to the lake too.

"A Time Gear!" The fire-type faced me again. "So it really just shows up when you are near one."

Riley and I reached the water and the Time Gear came into my view.

'Another Time Gear... Grovyle hopefully arrives here when we are already gone... I hope that...'

"Ngh!"

A wave of dizziness rushed through my body as I clutched my head with my left paw.

The symbol on my right one was glowing brightly now.

'Ugh... It wasn't that bright before...'

"Ri? What's wrong?" Riley noticed the expression of pain on my face.

"I... Don't know..." I said, turning around and walking away from the lake.

While doing so, I kept a close look to the gear on my paw. The further I got away from the water, the dimmer the symbol got.

My friends followed me.

"Are you okay?" Ozu asked with a worried voice.

The dizzy feeling slowly faded and the symbol was barely visible now.

"Yeah... Just felt a little dizzy." I answered with a confused tone.

"Sorry for being late! Had a little break from guardian duty!" a female voice said all of a sudden.

The voice wasn't actually audible... The words just appeared in my head, just like with Uxie, back at Fogbound Lake.

"Who's there?!" Ozu called out, scanning the room for a possible owner.

The female chuckled. "Well, well, well... Looks like I've gotten myself three timegear-thieves."

We were shocked by her accusation... Especially me.

"What?! No! We are not the thieves! We are here to stop the real one!" Ozu yelled into the air.

Another chuckle echoed through the air as a bright sphere of light began to form near the edge of the lake.

The sphere gave off a flash and revealed a Pokemon in its place.

A Mesprit was floating in the air, giving us a smirk.

"W-who are you?" Riley asked with surprised look.

"I'm Mesprit, the guardian of Underground Lake!" the psychic-type answered with her actual voice and folded her arms. "There's no way of tricking me... I can read your emotions and I feel a desire to steal the Time Gear in two of you."

The floating Pokemon was able to shock us again... And again, especially me...

We looked at each other.

"Two of us? But..." Ozu tried to say but Mesprit interrupted him.

"I'll have to fight you now. You know, defeating the bad-guys, reclaiming the already stolen Time Gears..." She unfolded her arms and her eyes began to glow in a blue light.

I tensed up. "I guess we have to fight her... Don't think about what she said, let's finish this first."

The Pikachu nodded and put off her desert coat.

Ozu and I did the same and got ready to fight the psychic-type.

"Let me try to take her on alone." I said, taking one step forward.

"Are you sure?" the Chimchar next to me asked with a concerned voice.

"Oh, come on! Ri, we are a team!" Riley protested.

I looked into the glowing eyes of my opponent. "Three on one wouldn't be fair... Right?"

She responded with another chuckle. "Oh! A thief that cares about honor! I'm surprised!"

A growl escaped my mouth as I created two bones in my paws and got into Grovyle's basic stance.

"Stupid fighting-type... Thinks she stands a chance against a legendary psychic." the Mesprit taunted.

I dashed forward and concentrated on Extremespeed. Time around me slowed down while I ran behind the psychic-type and jumped up to bring my baton to the back of her head.

Just when I pulled in my arm to throw it forward, all of my muscles locked themselves into place and the effect of Extremespeed faded.

"What the?!"

I was just floating in the air, held in place by an invisible force.

Mesprit chuckled yet again and turned around to face me. "Pretty fast... But not fast enough."

"Ri!" my friends called over to me.

Riley's cheeks were sparkling with electricity...

"Stay out of this!" I yelled past the psychic-type.

I struggled to break free of my opponent's psychic grip. "Hmph... What... Is this?!"

"Oh, that is just a little Psychic attack. And that isn't even all I can do with it." A smirk appeared on her face. "Let me show you."

Her psychic powers slowly raised me into the air.

When my vision quickly wandered towards the ground beneath me, I braced myself for an inevitable impact. 'Dammit.'

I slammed face first onto the floor and my bones disappeared in my hands. "Ngh!"

The psychic-type lifted me up again. I could feel that blood was dripping down from my nose. My vision was blurry and my ears were ringing.

'Dammit! I need to do something!'

I tried to free myself again but my limbs didn't respond. My arms and legs were just loosely hanging down from my body.

'Move! God dammit!'

The Mesprit slammed me down again like a ragdoll.

"RI!" The Pikachu had already taken a few steps forward when another shout stopped her.

"Don't!" I yelled as the psychic-type lifted me up from the ground again.

My whole body screamed that it was in pain. I looked down at it and saw that it was covered with bruises. My nose was bleeding even worse than before.

'Come on... There has to be a way to get out of her grip... Extremespeed? No... Force Palm? No...'

I grit my teeth.

'Attract? Ugh... What the hell am I thinking?!'

"Ohoho! A sturdy one!" The Mesprit gave me a grin. "Well, I had my fun with you... Let's finish this..."

She let me float away from her, creating some distance between us.

I was now near the edge of the lake again. Another wave of dizziness rished through my body as the glow on my paw became noticable again.

The psychic-type gave me one last smirk before she created dozens of violet projectiles made of psychic energy around me. Psyshock.

I closed my eyes. One wave of pain after another shot though my body.

Not even able to scream, I fell onto the ground... A ringing was sent into my ear when I made contact withe hard floor.

Pain... My brain was overwhelmed by the signals my body was sending.

Barely able to hold onto consciousness, I could only watch as the Mesprit turned around to face my friends.

"Weak..." My ears were able to hear those last words from her.

'Weak.'

I shifted between consciousness and unconsciousness while my friends were fighting her. I heard them call out to me a couple of times and felt the heat from Ozu's flames whenever I was aware of my surroundings.

'I need to get... Ugh...' A wave of weakness rushed through my aching body.

I wasn't able to think properly... The pain was occupying my senses...

...

There was one word that echoed through my mind while I lost my consciousness for good.

'Weak.'

I heard my friends scream again.

'Weak.'

_**Weak...**  
_

...

I did not think the second one.

**_Pathetic._**

There was a strange voice in my head.

'Who's there?'

**_Are you angry?_**

'What...?'

I heard another call of my friends.

'I... Y-yes...'

**_Do you want to beat her?_**

'Of course, I do...'

**_Good..._**

The voice disappeared and I regained the awareness of my surroundings again.

My body was still in pain but I managed to ignore it somehow. A certain feeling was driving my body to raise itself from the ground.

Anger.

**~ BGM: Equilibrium - Persona Q**

'She thinks she can call me weak and get away with it? I'll show that bitch who's weak.' My eyes shot open and I got back onto my feet, narrowing my view on the Mesprit that was floating a couple of feet away from me now. The psychic-type was fighting my friends, who were covered in bruises and looked exhausted.

She let out another chuckle before she launched a barrage of psychic projectiles towards Riley and Ozu.

I grit my teeth and balled my paws into fists when the Pikachu and the Chimchar got hit and were thrown back by the resluting explosions. Their screams were everything I needed to hear...

I didn't even have to concentrate on Extremespeed while I ran towards the Mesprit with a surprisingly fast dash. She didn't have a chance to react when I grabbed her shoulder, pulled the her floating body down to the ground and turned her around.

Her eyes widened before I dug my fist into her face, throwing her back a bit. With another dash, I followed the stumbling psychic-type and kept up my assault with a second punch to her face that resulted in a scream of pain.

A series of hard blows to her facial area pushed her further and further along the side of the lake until her body suddenly began to glow and vanished into thin air with a flash of light.

The Mesprit reappeared a couple of feet away from me and gave me a glare. Her face was covered in bruises and a thin trail of blood was leaking down from the Pokemon's mouth.

I somehow felt satisfied, seeing that I had already managed to draw blood when I ran at her for my next attack.

"No you don't," she said before her eyes began to give off the blue glow from earlier and an invisible force took ahold of my body. I grit my teeth when each of my muscles locked in place and my feet slowly lost their contact with the ground.

My arms were forcefully streched outwards while the Mesprit floated towards me. "You really are a sturdy one." She reached me and brougt her face close to mine, receiving her a growl from my side. "Oh! Now I get it! You enjoyed our little playtime and now you want to go for another round."

Her Psychic pushed my head downwards, putting the ground underneath me into my view. "Ready for another hug with you good friend called Floor?"

**_How about something else?_**

"How about something else?" I asked while the control over my limbs suddenly returned to me and the force I felt around my body weakened. In an instant motion, I rose my head to face my opponent and grabbed her neck with my left hand.

Both of our bodies fell back to the ground as her psychic powers lost their contol on me and I pulled the Mesprit down with me.

**_It's my turn to play now._**

"It's my turn to play now." I tightened my grip on her neck, slightly choking the Pokemon while her eyes widened in shock. Somewhere deep inside of them, I could make out an emotion.

Fear...

A grin wandered onto my face while I pulled my right fist back.

One punch after another hit the Mesprit and with each blow, a new bruises covered her face. My tight grip on her throat kept her from escaping and increased the damage of each of my punches. After dealing with the upper part of her body, I proceed by throwing my fist and my knee into her stomach a couple of times.

My grin became even wider when the force of my attacks caused the Mesprit to cough up blood. After one final fist to her gut, I decided to stop for a moment and raise her into the air. I still had a tight grip on the psychic-type's throat while she struggled to free herself.

"Damn you," she managed to bring out, coughing up a bit of blood again.

Pulling my fist back, I prepared myself to throw another punch into her stomach. At the same time my paw pushed itself into her stomach, I let go of her neck, resulting in a screaming psychic-type that was thrown back a couple of feet.

She landed on her face and slid on the ground, leaving a few slim trails of blood on the floor until her body stopped.

I heard some voices from my left but didn't really care about them while I slowly walked up to the Mesprit, who struggled to get back up. The psychic-type managed to lift her body with her arms and turned her head to face me again.

Another cough left her mouth. "No... I can't lose to you... I can't... let you have it..." The psychic-type slowly floated up into the air, clutching her stomach with her right arm.

The Mesprit's whole body was now covered in bruises, stains of blood and small cuts from her slide on the rocky floor. Her left eye was shut tight and the Pokemon was panting.

I was only a couple of steps away from her when she rose her left arm above her head, concentrating some kind of violet energy around it. She then threw it down again and with that motion, a blade of psychic energy was flung into my direction.

**_Pathetic._**

"Pathetic." Rather than evading her attack, I simply used my arm to brush it out of my way. The blade was deflected and impacted on the ground next to me, exploding on contact.

My arm was covered in some kind of black aura for some reason when I lowered it again, but I didn't care about that either. My view was still locked on the psychic-type in front of me, who had a shocked expression on her face.

The Mesprit tried to float away from me but immediately when I noticed her try to retreat, I dashed after my opponent and grabbed her left arm.

**_Did I say we were done?_**

"Did I say we were done?" Another set of punches impacted on her face. With her being completely dazed and in severe pain, she couldn't even resist against my next move. Still holding her arm, I moved behind the psychic-type and twisted her white arm up her back. "Aagh!"

Pressing my other paw onto her back, I prepared a Force Palm and released a strangely black stream of energy with a loud blast. Normally she would've been launched away from from me, however, my tight grip on her arm resulted in another outcome.

A cracking sound was coming from her shoulder while her arm twisted into an unnatural position and and a scream of agony left her mouth. I had just dislocated her arm but didn't stop there as I quickly yanked the Pokemon back, causing her screams to increase in volume.

With an overhead throw, I launched the Mesprit into the ground behind me. Her body was forcefully pushed into the floor, a couple of cracking noises audible upon impact.

When the dust settled and I regained my vision on the Pokemon, my expression turned grim. The Mesprit wasn't moving anymore and obviously unconscious. Her body was covered with open wounds and stains of blood.

I had beaten her but I was far from satisfied.

**_GET UP!_**

"GET UP!" I yelled, approaching the psychic-type's body.

No response... Getting even angrier, I kneeled down to the Mesprit and grabbed her neck one more.

**_DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?! I SAID, GET UP!_**

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?!" I shouted at the motionless Pokemon, pulling her face up to mine. "I SAID, GET UP!"

The Pokemon really was unconscious as not even shaking her caused any sort of response.

**_Cocky bitch... Look who's weak now._**

"Cocky bitch... Look who's weak now," I said, pulling my fist back.

"Ri!" the voices from before called.

My fist stopped right before it made contact with my opponents face. 'Ugh! Who's interrupting me while I'm busy?'

I turned into the direction of the voices source and was greeted by the image of a Pikachu and Chimchar. Both of them seemed to be shocked about something. Their eyes were fixed on mine as Riley muttered something under her breath.

Something seemed to terrify them...

When I looked back at the Pokemon I was holding, I knew what had startled them. My anger turned into shock when I saw the brutally beaten Mesprit I was holding up with my hand.

I immediately let go of the psychic-type and looked down at my paws. My eyes widened when I saw that my fur was covered with red stains of blood.

As I regained the awareness of my own injuries, I noticed that the blood didn't match the spots from where I felt the pain, meaning that... It wasn't mine.

"W-what...?" Not able to comprehend what I had just done, I took one step away from the unconscious Pokemon. My stomach began to turn sick as a dark thought entered my mind.

"N-no... No!" I yelled, taking another step back.

I looked to my friends again... They were looking at me like I was some kind of monster.

My view went behind them, towards the exit of the dungeon. The worst thing that could have happened, happened and I gasped when I saw that Grovyle just entered the cavern.

**~ Stop music**

* * *

**End of Chapter - 16**


	17. The Accomplice

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

I'm going to do a little experiment in this chapter! You'll see what I mean...

I'll tell you more about it at the end.

* * *

**Chapter 17 - The Accomplice**

* * *

I fell to my knees and looked back onto my paws.

That my friends just noticed the grass-type behind them wasn't important to me at that moment.

'What have I done? Why would I do something like that? Say things like that? Did I really...'

My vision turned back to the unconscious Mesprit behind me. I had to know if she was okay... I could never forgive myself if I had actually killed the Pokemon.

Riley was calling out to me... I didn't pay any attention to her though.

I got onto my shaky legs and walked over to the psychic-type. I almost fell down besides her and brought my right ear to her mouth.

My friends were yelling at me now but I turned off their voices and concentrated on the sound of breathing from the legendary.

A stone fell from my heart when I heard that she was still breathing...

'I... I didn't kill her... But... What if she has inner bleedings? I need to help her somehow.'

I pulled out an Oran berry from my pouch and held it over her mouth.

'Please, work...'

After opening the psychic-type's mouth, I pressed out some juice from the berry and let the blue liquid drip into it.

"Come on..." I muttered, trying to bring the Mesprit to swallow the liquid.

...

I let out a sigh of relief when the Pokemon gulped and let out a faint cough afterwards.

Some of her bruises disappeared.

'Okay... Her internal wounds should be healed too.'

The legendary was still unconscious but at least she would be okay.

I rose my head and tried to become aware of the entire situation I was in.

"Ri! Get yourself together! We need you!" I heard the Pikachu call out from behind me.

My eyes widened. 'Right! Grovyle is here!'

When I quickly turned around to face my friends and Grovyle, a wave of dizziness shot through my head.

Falling down again, I brought my left paw to my head.

'God dammit...'

"Ri!" Ozu yelled with a desperate voice.

The symbol on my right hand was still glowing... I ignored it and pulled out another Oran berry from my pouch.

'Okay... I need to find a way to solve this without getting anyone hurt.'

I gulped down the berry and felt some of my strength come back to me. The pain all over my body faded too. Not entirely though.

The dizzy feeling stayed as I rose my head to look on what was going on.

My friends were nearly next to me and Grovyle was slowly getting closer to us.

"Ugh... Sorry. I'm back." I said, walking next to my friends.

They seemed to be a bit startled by my voice. When they turned around to look at me, they were shocked at first. But after a while their expressions turned normal again.

"I don't know what just happened to you but we have to stop that Grovyle now." Riley responded in a serious voice.

I looked into Grovyle's eyes. He looked a little shocked too. I couldn't blame him.

The person he thought as his partner was covered in blood.

'Why does he have to see this?... Will he think bad of me now?'

I shook my head and focused on what I had to do right now.

"I'm just going to take the Time Gear." Grovyle spoke up. "Nobody has to get hurt if you don't try to stop me."

"You think we are just going to let you steal it?!" the Pikachu next to me responded, getting herself ready to fight. "Not in a million years!"

I grit my teeth. 'Dammit, Riley.'

Looking back at Grovyle, I got into my normal battle-stance.

I gave him a wink and dashed towards him.

"Ri?! Wait!" Ozu tried to stop me but I was already in front of my "opponent".

Grovyle's eyes told me that he understood what I was trying to do.

I jumped up in front of him, pulling my right fist back. While doing so, I let my belly wide open on purpose.

The grass-type immediately noticed the hole in my defence and pushed his left foot forward.

When he touched my stomach, he put some force against my body and threw me back towards my friends again.

"Ri!" they yelled.

I was thrown right into Riley and she got pushed back with me.

The Pikachu struggled to push my body off of her as I was laying on top of her, acting like I was unconscious.

I opened one eye and looked at Grovyle again. He was right in front of Ozu, who was shivering from fear.

"Ngh! Ri, get off me!" the electric-type underneath me screamed, pushing me up with her paws.

The Chimchar fell back on his backside, looking up at Grovyle with a shocked expression. The grass-type simply walked past him and closer to the lake.

Riley had managed to free herself from my weight and rolled me on my stomach.

Grovyle was almost at the edge of the water when a Pikachu rushed between him and his goal.

The dizzy feeling had gotten worse. My vision was getting blurrier and blurrier while I watched the scene.

"Come on... Don't be stupid." Grovyle said, trying to prevent a conflict.

The electric-type responded with a growl and sent a Thunderbolt into Grovyle's direction.

He jumped into the air and dodge the ray with a backflip. After landing on his feet, he extended his leaves.

The Pikachu dropped down onto her front legs as her tail began to cover itself with metal.

She had a somewhat confused look on her face, when Grovyle got into his basic stance.

Riley dashed forward as white streams of energy radiated around her body. Quickattack.

When the Pikachu was in reach, she slashed at Grovyle with her steel-covered tail.

The grass-type simply brought up his left blade and blocked the attack with ease.

Riley spun her body around and dropped back on the ground. Right when the Pikachu landed, she shot out another bolt of lighting towards her opponent.

Grovyle quickly sidestepped, evading the attack.

Riley let out another growl, clearly frustrated that none of her attacks were able to hit him.

'Ugh... What's happening?' The light headed feeling was getting worse with every second. A headache joined the dizziness.

The Pikachu was attacking Grovyle with her Irontail again, trying to break through his defences somehow. After another failed try, she jumped back, creating some distance between her and the grass-type.

My vision was completely blurry by now. I could only make out a yellow and a green dot which were crashing into each other with immense speed.

The green one shot out two smaller dots which were flying towards the yellow one.

I heard a scream and saw how the green dot dashed behind the other one.

A sound of a blow could be heard, before the yellow dot wandered onto the ground.

'Ugh... God dammit...' I felt myself fainting again. The edge's of my vision were black and thinking properly was getting harder with every second that passed.

"Hey, Chimchar." I heard Grovyle's voice. "Get your friends and that Mesprit out of here... It will get a little rough once I grab that Time Gear."

I closed my eyes. My mind was overthrown with a feeling of weakness... emptiness... nothingness.

Not able to hold onto consciousness any longer, I passed out.

* * *

**BGM : Id (Darkness) - Fire Emblem Awakening**

Darkness...

I had been here before... Drifting through this black space without a body and feeling of time.

And just like last time, I felt another presence again.

_...at...fi...d...?_

_What? Who are you?_

_...hah...a...  
_

Whoever it was was moving away from me again.

_Wait! I don't understand you!_

The voice faded away with something that sounded like a chuckle.

_God dammit! Wait!_

My voice echoed through the darkness but... No response. The presence was gone.

Here I was again... Alone... Floating through the void...

I didn't know how much time had passed until the darkness slowly faded. I somewhat able to feel my body again... Somewhat meaning that my senses were covered with a foggy feeling.

Like I was dreaming or... I knew where I had felt this before... My memories...

_I was in a forest. It looked familiar somehow. There was something laying on the ground. I bent down to pick it up. Something about it was odd. The shape of the object was not identifiable. A black fog was surrounding it. The earth began to shake all of a sudden and a loud noise was coming from behind me. I turned around and found a wave of darkness, coming my direction. My body didn't move. The wave soon reached me and as soon as it touched me...  
_

_The object began to glow... The wave of darkness surrounded me but the light kept the fog away from my body somehow..._

_..._

_I felt something in the black cloud that was all around me._

_My vision focused on two red glowing eyes which were looking at from the fog. They looked like they belonged to a feral beast, looking at its prey. Whatever those eyes belonged to was coming closer... _

_The beast let out a mighty roar, sending a shockwave towards my direction. The object in my hand began to glow even brighter as the sound wave reached my ears..._

_It was no ordinary roar... It felt like I was torn apart and crushed at the same time when the wave rushed through my body._

The vision ended with an unbearable feeling of pain as everything went black again.

**Stop music**

* * *

My head hurt like it was about to explode when I slowly became aware of myself again.

I was laying in a bed and was able to feel a blanket on top of my belly. My head was rested on a pillow.

I opened my eyes and was greeted with a blinding light.

When I tried to cover my eyes with my right paw, I felt a stinging on my upper arm.

"Ugh... What the hell?!" I let my arm fall down again.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and I was able to see the ceiling of a room.

I used my left arm to lift myself up. A dizzy feeling joined the already horrible headache I was having.

'What happened? Ugh... My head hurts like hell...' I brought my left paw up to my head.

'We were at that underground lake... And then that Mesprit showed up...'

I rose my head and looked to my left. I was at the infirmary of the guild.

'The guild? How did I get back here?'

Just then the door in front of my bed opened and Chimecho floated into the room.

She noticed that I was awake and greeted me with a smile as she closed the door with her psychic powers.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, approaching my bed.

"A little headache... And my shoulder hurts a bit..." I answered, putting my left paw on my upper arm. A bandage was wrapped around it.

"Well, you should have an Oran berry... It will take away the pain and heal that wound on your shoulder." the psychic-type said, lifting up a berry from a basket that was standing on a table at the other side of te room.

She let it float to me and I grabbed it. "Thank you." I quickly ate it and immediately felt how the pain faded away.

"You should be happy that you only got a cut on your shoulder..." she continued, floating to the right side of my bed.

Chimecho approached the bed that was next to mine. A Pokemon was laying inside of it.

"Um... Ri has lost almost all of her aura... I don't know when she's going to wake up again." the psychic-type said in a concerned voice, looking at the sleeping Riolu.

'Ri...'

I remembered everything that had happened.

How she got slammed into the ground by that Mesprit.

How me and Ozu tried to fight the legendary and got easily beaten too.

How Ri suddenly lunged at the psychic-type and just beat her into a pulp.

...

And those eyes... Those ice-cold blue eyes.

A shiver ran down my spine when I remembered the look the Riolu had on her face...

"Ozu already told us what happened... It was him, who got all of you out of there." Chimecho explained, drawing my attention to her.

"And the Time Gear?" I questioned with a worried look.

Her head sank towards the ground. "Um... The thief managed to steal it. Time around Quicksand Desert has stopped."

"Ugh!" I baled my right paw into a fist.

I wasn't able to stop the Grovyle...

My gaze fell on my shoulder again. That last attack before he knocked me out caused the cut. That he was able to detach the leaves on his arms and use them as projectiles caught me by surprise.

'But the way he fought before that...'

I wasn't quite sure if I had seen the style before.

My view turned to the sleeping Pokemon to my right again.

'His movements... They were exactly like hers... Could she...?'

I shook my head and pushed the thought out of my head.

"How long was I out?" I asked, looking at the window that was behind me. It looked like it was noon.

"Well, you have been asleep since Ozu brought you back yesterday evening." the psychic-type explained.

"Where is Ozu? Is he okay?!" I asked, pulling the blanket off of my body and stepping out of my bed.

"He's fine! Ozu didn't have a single scratch when you came back... He said that he needed some time alone and left the guild." Chimecho answered.

"Oh..." I walked next to Ri's bed.

The Riolu had a peaceful expression her face. Her body was covered with a blanket and some bandages were wrapped around her arms, which were laying on top of it.

The fur on her body was clean again. I assumed that Chimecho had fixed us up. My own fur looked clean too... No dust or signs of a fight could be found on my body. Expect the bandage on my arm of course.

"Um... And before you ask... Mesprit is fine too. Magnezone brought her to Uxie... Both of them should recover soon." she said, noticing my worried expression when I looked at Ri.

"Well... What happens now? What if Grovyle steals all of the Time Gears?" I asked.

"Dusknoir wants to hold a short briefing after everyone is back from their patrols. He's discussing some things with Chatot and the guildmaster right now... You could ask him right now, if you want to." she answered.

"Okay... Thanks." I folded my arm, looking at the Riolu again.

'She knows something about that Grovyle... How she looked at the wanted-poster... Her shocked expression when she saw him at the lake... What is she hiding from us?'

I shook my head again and turned to the door. 'I need to talk with Ozu about this...'

"Thank you, Chimecho. I'm going to look for Ozu." I said, walking up to the door. "Can you let me know when Ri wakes up again?"

"Of course!" she answered as I opened the door.

I left the infirmary and headed to the ladder, leading to the upper floor.

After leaving the guild, I walked to the crossroad before Treasure Town. 'Hmm... Where should I look first?'

I decided to look for him in the town and took the path that lead to the right.

Keeping and eye open for my partner, I passed by Dusknoir's Bank and stepped on the main square. I overheard a few Pokemon, talking about the Time Gear from Quicksand Desert. The news had spread pretty fast.

After crossing the bridge that lead to the other part of Treasure Town, I reached Kecleon's Market.

'Maybe they have seen him...'

I approached the counter and greeted the two Kecleons which were standing behind it.

"Hi, there! How can we help you?" the green one asked with a smile.

"Hi... Have you seen Ozu?" I asked.

They seemed a little disappointed that I wasn't here for shopping.

"No, we haven't..." he answered.

"Oh... Well, I guess I have to keep looking. Bye!" I waved at them and turned towards the bridge.

"Goodbye!" they called after me.

"Hmm..." I brought my left paw to my chin as I took the first step onto the wooden bridge.

'If he hasn't been in Treasure Town, he can only be at the beach... I should have gone there immediately. It's his favourite place after all.'

I was just about to reach the crossroad when two familiar figures headed my way.

A bit of sweat was forming on my forehead, when I recognized them.

A Manectric and a Darumaka. The same ones from Amp Plains.

Our eyes met and...

"Isn't that that Riolu's friend?" the fire-type asked, pointing at me with its finger.

"Hmph... What are you doing here?" the Manetric growled.

"Oh... Ehm... Just looking for my friend." I answered, feeling a little startled by his hostile attitude.

"Looking for the Riolu to beat us up again?" he asked.

"No, another friend... And about that thing at Amp Plains... I'm sorry." I replied in a sad voice.

"You'd better be. My whole pack was badly hurt. That's the second time my family had problems with that Riolu." At first I was a little sceptical about him. Ri said that he was supposed to be some perverted jerk... But he just seemed to be angry that his family got hurt.

"Second time?" I didn't remember meeting any Electrike with Ri, before the incident at the plains.

"Yeah, my uncle and cousin had some trouble with her too. She and her friend trespassed their territory and beat them up when my uncle confronted them." the electric-type explained.

I remembered that she told us about a friend before.

_"I was travelling with a friend and we were exploring a Mystery Dungeon. Inside we got separated and I went on without him."_

'Right... That was the first time she mentioned him.'

_..._

_"Uhm... No, its just that... I think me and my friend used to do research on humans. I think that's the reason we went into that cave in the first place."_

'Is that really true? Ugh... She probably just said that because she didn't trust us enough to tell us that she is a human too... Well, that's somewhat understandable but... If they didn't do research on humans... What did they do?'

_..._

_"Who is it? Your friend? What is he like?"_

_"Well, he's really strong. He's a great explorer and... Uhm... I'm not even sure if im physically attracted to him. But there was a moment when I might have considered it... You see, he's not my species and... Ugh, I shouldn't have started this..."_

'Her awkward attitude towards that topic makes much more sense, now that I know she is a human...'

_..._

I also remembered the vision I had about Ri and her friend, when I confronted her after the Expedition.

How the hand of her friend gave her that blanket and she started to blush... But something about that hand bothered me, now that I thought about it again.

A uncomfortable thought entered my mind, before I asked my next question.

"Her friend?"

"Yes, that Riolu was with a Grovyle when they beat up my uncle's pack." he answered.

My eyes widened. "Did you just say Grovyle?"

"Yes... I met her here in Treasure Town before and when I asked about him, she went all crazy on me." he explained. "And the second time, when we met at Amp Plains, she straight up knocked me out before I could talk about him."

I immediately dashed past them, heading towards the beach.

"Hey! Where are you going!?" they yelled after me but I was already on the road that lead to the beach.

'No! It can't be! Her friend couldn't be the thief! God dammit!'

I was almost able to see the beach.

'I need to talk with Ozu about this!'

Scanning the area for my partner, I finally walked onto the beach.

There he was, sitting on our usual spot.

"Ozu!" I shouted, running up to him.

I was panting a little and had to recover from the short sprint as the Chimchar sat up.

"Riley! You're okay!" he greeted with a smile.

"Ozu! I need to talk with you... It's about Ri." I said, still trying to catch my breath.

His expression turned sad all of a sudden. "Ri? Do you mean how she beat up Mesprit?"

"No..." I answered. "I... Just heard that... Ugh... Do you remember the friend she talked about?"

He seemed a bit shocked when I asked that question. "W-What about him?"

I hesitated a bit before I continued. "That friend is supposed to be a Grovyle."

The fire-type broke eye contact with me and let out a deep sigh. I got confused by his reaction.

"I figured that she had something to do with the Time Gears... Every since I have seen that symbol on her paw... I even thought that she could have something to do with the disappearance of the gears..." he said in a sad voice.

"But... That would mean that she lied to us, ever since we met her!" I yelled angrily.

Ozu was a little startled by my yelling but he already knew that such things made my blood boil.

"I know... That's why I didn't tell you... But we can't be sure that her friend and the thief are the same person! Maybe it's just a coincidence that they have the same species." he replied.

"Yes... But a lot of things would make sense that way..." I said.

"Has she woken up yet? We should talk with her about it. Maybe she will finally tell us everything, now that we know that her friend is a Grovyle." the fire-type suggested.

"Okay, let's go back to the guild..." I turned around to head back to the crossroad.

My partner followed me and we quickly made our way to the entrance of the guild.

When we climbed down to the second floor, I stopped before Ozu was about to open the door to the infirmary.

A certain thought had entered my mind.

'Wait... Ri was acting very suspicious whenever Dusknoir was around. She said that I should be careful about him... But... Why? If she really is the friend of that thief... Maybe she acted so strange because she knew that Dusknoir knows something about Grovyle...'

The Chimchar was giving me a confused look. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, ehm... There's something I have to check on... I'll be right back." I said, turning towards the guildmaster's office.

Ozu entered the infirmary, while I knocked onto the door of the office.

* * *

After a moment, I heard Chatot's voice. "Come in!"

I opened the door and stepped into the room. Wigglytuff, Chatot and Dusknoir were studying a map, which was laying on Wigglytuff's desk.

"Riley, I see you have recovered!" the flying-type said with a relieved look. "What can we do for you?"

I looked into Dusknoirs eye. "Dusknoir? Can I talk with you for a moment?"

The ghost-type seemed to be a little surprised. "Well, of course!"

"Alone..." I added, giving the guildmaster and his assistant a serious look.

They were a little confused by my seriousness. Both of them nodded and left the room.

Chatot closed the door behind them and left me and Dusknoir to ourselves.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked. Something was strange though, it looked like he tensed up all of a sudden.

"It's about Ri... I... I just heard that she had been with a Grovyle before she got teleported to our guild." I explained in a sad voice.

The ghost-type looked calm again and clasped his arms. "I see... And now you think she has something to do with the thief."

"There is something else... She acted really strangely around you... And.. That made me think..." I continued. "Have you met the thief before?

He closed his eye. It seemed like he was debating about something... After a brief moment of silence, the ghost-type finally answered.

"Yes... Yes, I have."

Dusknoir opened his eye again and gave me a look I didn't quite understand.

"Y-you did?! When? How?" I responded with a surprised voice.

"What I'm about to tell you, might sound crazy but it is the truth." the ghost-type said in a serious voice.

...

"The timegear-thief Grovyle... Is from the future."

"What?!" I was shocked. 'Is he crazy?!'

"Listen... I'm going to tell you the whole story now... Because, you... Play a key role in it."

'I'm supposed to play a role in this story? What...? How am I supposed to have something to do with the time-gear thief? I haven't even met him before... Wait... Maybe... Maybe I did and just can't remember!... But if Dusknoir knows something about me, that would mean that...'

"Wait! So my name did tell you something!" I yelled, being a little angry that he lied to me.

"Calm down... I'm sorry for not telling you but I had to be sure that you really lost your memory. Also... I couldn't tell you in front of that Riolu." he explained. "Okay... As I said before... Grovyle comes from the future... And... So do I."

I gasped. "What?!"

"I came after him to stop his plan. Grovyle wants to destroy the world by causing the planet's paralysis. Now the next thing is going to become interesting for you... You see... Grovyle wasn't alone when he traveled back in time. He had an accomplice."

"A-and that accomplice is Ri?" I stuttered.

"No..." he answered.

...

"It is you. You are the second time-gear thief."

I took one step away from him. "W-what?" My mind wasn't really able to process his statement.

"I'm supposed to be his accomplice?! But... I... How am I supposed to be one of the people that tried to destroy the world?!" I had to grab the desk that was next to me. My legs weren't able to support my weight anymore.

"Grovlye's partner was a human girl called Riley... When Ri told me that your name is Riley and that you are a human, I didn't know how to react at first... Arresting you without any kind of proof wasn't possible but I always tried to keep a close eye on you." he continued.

'I'm a criminal... I... What made me do something like this? Is... The things that Mesprit said... It was not just Ri she was talking about... I wanted to steal the Time Gear too!'

I let go of the desk and took another step away from him. "S-so... Do you want to arrest me now?"

"I originally planned to do so..." Dusknoir cleared his throat. "But... I have an offer for you, which we will discuss later... First, I want to talk about the Riolu."

I responded with a worried look.

"I fear that Ri had contact with the time-gear thief Grovyle... I first suspected her when she followed me through Treasure Town a few days ago. When she asked me for an autograph, she gave me a piece of paper with the word 'Hello' in human language written on it. At that moment, I knew that she either had contact with a human or was a human herself." Dusknoir explained. "And later, at Amp Plains... Her fighting-style was almost identical to Grovyle's."

"But why would she help him? I don't understand it!" I responded with a confused look.

"Now here is my theory on how Ri fits into the whole thing... I assume that she really is a human with amnesia... Grovyle must've met her and mistaken her for you... The real Riley." he continued.

"T-that... makes sense. The first time we talked with her, she introduced herself as Riley." I commented.

"Ah, so I can assume that my theory is correct." the ghost-type replied. "I think that Ri already knows that she isn't you. I bet she acted very strangely when she found out."

'The day she told me that her name wasn't Riley... Back at the beach, when she was alone with Ozu... That must've been when she found out. That means that she knew all along who I really was."

"B-but... Why didn't she tell me?!" I felt completely betrayed by her now.

'She could have told me! Told me who I really was! I mean sure, I would've been a criminal but at least I would have known something about my past!'

"I don't know... But what's important now, is that she is still trying to help Grovyle, even though she knows that she isn't his real partner. Her motives are unclear to me but what I do know, is that she has to be stopped. That's why I came up with a plan." Dusknoir's voice got even more serious.

"A plan?" I asked in a confused tone.

"It also includes the offer I was talking about... Here's what we are going to do..."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 17**

* * *

So... The way I switched from Ri's POV to Riley's...

What I was trying to do here was that the reader first think that he's still with Ri and slowly gets that little hint with the shoulder thingy and so on...

And then you get that "Aha"-moment where you realize that you see the world through the Pikachu's eyes now.

Now here's the question: Did you like that little realization moment or did it just confuse you?

I really need a different opinion on this, because obviously, I know when the POV changes...

So let me know what you think about it. You know...PM/Review.


	18. Plans and Theories

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 18 - Plans and Theories  
**

* * *

"Aaah!" I screamed as my body jumped and I shot upright into a sitting position.

My heart felt like it was about to burst any second and my breath was trembling.

'What was that? A nightmare?'

Bringing my right paw to my head, I tried to get aware of my surroundings.

I was in a bed... Looking around the room revealed that I was at the infirmary of Wigglytuff's guild.

There weren't any other Pokemon in the room and an orange light was shining through the window that was to my left.

'It's evening? How long was I out?... When did...'

My face went pale when I remembered what had happened.

I looked at my paws. My fur was clean again and a couple of bandages were wrapped around my arms.

'I... Why would I do something like that?... That... That voice...'

I tried to remember what happened before I beat up the Mesprit.

'It asked me if I was angry and if I wanted to beat her... Did... Did that voice make me do that?'

I pulled the blanket that was on top of me off my body.

'My friends... What will they think of me? And what about Grovyle?'

My eyes widened as I just brought my feet down to the floor.

'Grovyle! The Time Gear!'

I was just about to hop off the bed, when I heard the door to the main room opened.

A Chimchar entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Hello, Ri..." he said, turning around. "How are you?"

A faint smile was on his face.

"Uhm... I'm okay..." I replied.

I hesitated for a moment before I continued. "Is Mesprit okay?"

"Don't worry, she's fine... They brought her to Uxie." the fire-type answered.

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth. 'Thank, god.'

His expression turned worried. "I heard a scream from the infirmary... Did something happen?"

"I just had a bad dream... That's all..." I answered.

...

"About the thing that happened at the lake... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for protecting us..." he said with a forced smile.

His eyes told me what he was really thinking... I had seen how he looked at me at the lake... My friend was scared of me. Breaking eye-contact with him, I let my head sink towards the ground.

"I... I wasn't myself back then... There was this strange voice and when I saw how she attacked you and Riley... I... I just... Lost it."

The feeling of guilt was returning. "I though I had killed her..."

Ozu walked up to me and grabbed my shoulder. I rose my head again and looked into his eyes.

"You are not a bad person... You protected your friends and helped that Mesprit... And now... Even though you know that she is okay, you still feel guilty."

He managed to cheer me up with those words... A faint smile appeared on my face, to which the Chimchar, strangely didn't respond to.

"I'm the one that should be sorry..." Ozu let go of my shoulder and let his head sink towards the ground. "I... I just froze when Grovyle showed up all of a sudden. I knew that you two were besides me but... When he threw you into Riley and the only thing between him and the lake was me..."

The Chimchar stopped there. After a short moment, he looked into my eyes again.

"Do you think I'm a coward?"

...

"Do you want to overcome your fears?" I asked with a serious voice.

He turned confused by my question. "Of course, I do..."

"Well, there you have your answer." I replied.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"A coward doesn't even try to confront his fears. All you need is the strength to face them." I explained. "What are you scared of anyway?"

The Chimchar took some time before he answered. "It's... I'm scared to fight alone... I just completely lose it when there is no one to back me up. I don't want to get hurt... There is this feeling that keeps me from fighting when no one is there with me... Whenever I have to fight somebody, I have two opponents... My actual enemy... And my own fear..."

"I don't like fighting... Never did..." he added in a sad voice.

A jolt of pain shot through my head when he said those words. Through the whole sentence, it looked like he was replaced by the familiar black flickering figure.

"Ngh..." Gritting my teeth, I answered him. "... Well, then it's obvious what you need to do."

It looked like he was a bit worried by my expression of pain but more so was he confused by what I just said.

"You need to get strong enough to beat them both, your fear and your opponent... But... Taking hits and pain aren't easy to evade in a battle... But you have the same solution there. Get strong enough, so no one will ever be able to hurt you or your friends." I explained as the headache slowly faded.

"Do you really think I could get that strong?" he questioned.

I responded with a smile. "Of course!"

The Chimchar closed his eyes. "Thank you."

...

"So... What happened to the Time Gear?" I asked, putting on a serious expression again.

His look changed instantly when I asked that question. Something about it was strange...

"It... It's g-gone... Grovyle managed to steal it." the fire-type explained.

I closed my eyes and exhaled through my nose.

'Okay... So, our next goal is Crystal Cave... I need to find a way to talk with him.'

Opening my eyes again, revealed that Ozu was still giving me a strange stare.

"Something on my face?" I asked bringing my paw up to my chin.

My friend seemed to be a little surprised and jumped when I spoke up again.

"Huh? N-no, it's nothing." the Chimchar stuttered, rubbing the back of his head.

After he put his hand down again, his look turned serious.

"Hey, uhm... Ri. I don't know how I get to that topic right now but... Can I ask you something about the time before we found you in front of the guild?" Ozu asked.

"Uhm... I already told you that I will tell you someday... The time just isn't really right yet." I answered as a bit of sweat formed on my forehead.

"Yes, I know that but... Why? Did you do something bad in your past?" he continued.

"No... It's nothing bad... Just something that has to wait for the right moment to be told." I responded.

"Come on, you can tell me. I can keep it between the two of us..." The Chimchar was persistent.

...

"Sorry..."

How he responded seemed a little strange to me. It looked like he was gritting his teeth, while he baled his right hand into a fist.

I heard him mutter something under his breath...

He stayed that way for a while, before he spoke up again. "Okay... I understand..."

His expression turned normal again. "Anyway, do you want to see the others? Dinner is almost ready."

"Okay, let's go." I answered, following him out of the infirmary.

* * *

**Earlier...**

"Phase One... Last Request..." Dusknoir began. "We wait until she wakes up and either you or Ozu tries to get something out of her, without mentioning that you already know everything... Maybe she will open up and we can convince her that what she had been doing was wrong."

"Ugh... It's probably better if Ozu asks her." I replied. "I made a promise that I wouldn't ask her about her past until I manage to beat her in a battle. I could try to win the match when she wakes up but... I'm not sure if I can defeat her."

"She lied to you ever since you met and you still hold onto a promise you made to her?" the ghost-type asked with a somewhat surprised voice.

I let out a growl before I answered. "It's... I still can't believe she could really do something like that."

"Anyway, should Ozu fail to get her to talk,..."

* * *

Closing the door behind us, I turned my head towards the middle of the main room.

Bidoof and Sunflora were having a chat with Croagunk, who was fiddling around with his cauldron.

My friend and I approached them.

"Oh, boy! Look! It's Ri!" Bidoof exclaimed when they noticed me.

"How are you?" Sunflora asked with a warm smile.

"I'm fine! Thanks for asking." I answered, returning it.

The poison-type behind them was just giving me a stare, blowing up his cheeks.

When he pulled them back in again, it almost looked like he was giving me a grin...

The three of them looked at Ozu all of a sudden who, strangely, had a sad look on his face.

"Something wrong?" I asked him with a confused look.

The fire-type jumped a bit and shook his head. "N-no, I'm fine. Should we go to the dinning hall?"

"Great idea! Dinner should be ready any second now." Sunflora replied.

The five of us walked into the hallway that lead to the dinning room.

Chimecho was already in the room and just finished preparing everyone's food.

"Hello, Ri!" she greeted as we entered. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Thank you for fixing me up." I answered.

"There wasn't actually that much fixing to do... Can you come to the infirmary after dinner? We'll talk about it then." the psychic-type replied.

"Okay..." I followed Ozu to our usual seats.

Chimcheo announced dinner with a loud ringing and slowly, the rest of the guild members came into the room.

The last ones to arrive were Wigglytuff, Chatot, Dusknoir and surprisingly Riley right behind the ghost-type.

The two walked over to us and Dusknoir sat down next to me... 'Ugh...'

"How are you, Ri? I heard you had some trouble with the lake's guardian." Dusknoir asked.

"Uhm... I'm fine." I looked over to Ozu and Riley who were mumbling something to each other. They noticed my stare and looked at me.

I brought my head to the Chimchar's ear.

"Did you tell everyone?" I whispered.

The fire-type next to me nodded.

My view wandered onto the plate in front of me.

'Ugh... The whole guild probably thinks that I'm a monster now.'

"Everyone! Listen up!" Chatot shouted, getting everyone's attention. The parrot-like Pokemon looked at Riley before he continued. "Thanks to Dusknoir, we were able to locate the final Time Gear! It's at Crystal Cave! Bidoof, Sunflora and Loudred already explored the cave and only managed to find a dead-end. However, thanks to the information Dusknoir has given us, we now know that there lies a secret in that cave that let's us explore further."

'What? He told them? Dusknoir didn't tell us about Quicksand Desert... Why would he do it now?'

"The fifth gear lies somewhere hidden in that cave, so we know that the thief is going to go there for sure!" the flying-type continued. "Dusknoir, could you fill everyone in on our plan?"

'A plan?'

"Of course..." the ghost-type responded. "We are going to set up a trap for the thief at Crystal Cave!"

'I knew it! He was planning something after all... Heh... Whatever it is, it won't work. I'm going to warn Grovyle.'

"Between the first part of the cave and the second part, lies a cave-system that isn't affected by the dungeons. The whole guild is coming along to set up an ambush. I will explain the details tomorrow morning." he continued.

'Dammit! How am I supposed to talk to Grovyle in private, when the whole guild is coming along? Ugh... Maybe I can sneak off in that cave-system. I'm going to plan that tomorrow... When I know the details... Yeah.'

"You heard him! Eat well and get some good rest!" Chatot spoke up again. "Enjoy your meals!"

An odd silence was hanging in the room while we were eating. Usually the other guild members would talk about their daily events or exploring in general... However, between a short mumble here and there, only the sounds of us eating could be heard.

Everyone finished their meals and left the dinning hall.

My friends and I were getting up from out chairs, when I noticed a bandage on the Pikachu's arm.

"Riley, what happened to your arm?" I asked, pointing at the piece of cloth around her right arm.

"Oh... Uhm... Just a cut from my fight with Grovyle. It's nothing to worry about." the electric-type explained, looking at the bandage.

'Dammit, Grovyle... I told him not to hurt them.'

Chimecho was cleaning up everyone's plates when we were about to leave the room.

"Should I wait in the infirmary?" I asked.

"Yes, I'll this won't take long." she replied.

My friends and I walked into the main room and I approached the door thar lead to the infirmary.

I had just put my hand onto the doorknob when I noticed that my friends were right behind me.

"Oh, you want to come too." I said with a surprised look.

"Of course! You're our friend." Riley replied with a smile.

I returned it and we entered the room. Sitting down on the chair that Chimecho usually let me sit, I looked at my friends who were just standing next to me, looking at me with a smile.

After a while, Chimecho entered the room and closed the door behind her with her psychic-powers.

"Um... When Ozu brought you back here, you were covered in bruises and small cuts." the psychic-type began to explain. "That wasn't the worrying thing though. You had almost lost all of your aura again!"

"My aura? Again?" I remembered how she told how I had almost died the last time I lost that much of it.

"You should be more careful with your aura-attacks." she replied in a serious voice.

"But I only used Bone Rush once and Extremespeed... Uhm... Twice, I think." I tried to review my fight with Mesprit.

"What about the thing with your eyes? You know... Where you went all berserk." the Pikachu next to me asked.

"Eyes? What do you mean?" I questioned, not knowing what she had meant.

My friends looked at each other with confused looks.

"Normally, your eyes are red. But when you beat up Mesprit you had blue eyes all of a sudden. And later, when you tried to fight Grovyle with us, they had turned back to normal again." Riley explained, facing me again.

I responded with a confused look myself.

"Blue eyes?... Uhm... Chimecho? Do you have any idea what could've caused them?" I asked.

"Um... Sorry. I never heard anything that could change eye-colors." the psychic-type replied.

"But... If that didn't make you lose your aura... What did?" Riley asked.

I looked at my right paw. "I think I know what it was. The symbol."

"Symbol?" Chimecho had no idea what I was talking about.

"Well, it's on the back my right paw. It looks exactly like a gear and only shows up when I'm near a Time Gear. And... I think it somehow affects my aura. Whenever I was near one, I felt really dizzy and light headed." I explained.

"Dizzy and light headed? Um... That would be symptoms that occur when a living being's aura is drained from it's body." the psychic-type replied.

"So the Time Gears somehow drain away my aura?" I concluded.

"Um... That would be an explanation." she responded. "You should try to stay away from it, should we find a gear tomorrow.

"Well, I think you don't need those bandages anymore." A weird sensation ran over my body as the bandages on it slowly unwrapped themselves.

Chimecho let the pieces of cloth float into a basket which was placed ok a table, next to the door.

"Thank you." I looked down on my body. Any wounds I had from when Mesprit slammed me into the ground were completely gone.

"You are completely fit for tomorrow." Something strange happened when she said that. It looked like she was giving Riley a quick glance at the end.

"Okay, then... See you tomorrow at the briefing." Chimecho used her psychic-powers to open the door to the main room.

"Okay! See you tomorrow!" me and my friends replied in union, leaving the infirmary.

We made our way back to our room.

My pouches, goggles and red scarf were laying on our table.

I walked up to them, while Ozu closed the door behind us.

"What happened to our cloaks?" I asked, scanning the room for our desert cloaks.

"Sorry. I had to get you two and Mesprit out of there. There was no time to grab them." the Chimchar said with a sad voice.

"You saved us, and that's what matters." I replied, giving him a smile.

The three of us sat down on our beds.

"Do you think we can catch the thief tomorrow?" Riley asked. The Pikachu was looking at me, meaning that the question was meant especially for me.

"Uhm... I hope so." I said with a somewhat nervous voice.

"Hey, Ri. Do you think you could beat that Grovyle? I mean, without any Time Gears that would drain away your aura?" she added.

That question made me think... I folded my arms.

'Could I? Grovyle sure is strong... And fast. If I would fight him in a normal match... Speed wise? I think we would be even. Strength wise? Both of us know the Gavylian-style... But that requires to be faster than your opponent. I would probably use my bones to block his Leaf Blade and counter with Force Palm or normal hand-to-hand combat. Aerial Ace would be super-effective against him, but I'm not really sure how to use it offensively. Maybe I could...'

I was so caught up in theorizing that I didn't even notice that I hadn't answered her yet.

"Uhm... I don't know... I have no idea what he is capable of." I responded, unfolding my arms again.

"Hmm... Well, let's hope that Dusknoir's plan works. Who knows what's going to happen if Grovyle steals all of the Time Gears." Riley said.

"Yeah... Who knows..." I muttered to myself.

I let myself fall back onto my back, putting my arms behind my head.

'He would bring them to Temporal Tower... But before that we would still have to...'

My eyes widened. I remembered what Grovyle told me about the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest.

_"Yes... you were laying unconscious near the place where the Time Gear should have been. But you must have gotten there after the gear was taken. If you had been inside the shockwave you would be stuck there now. So I assume that somebody else than us must have taken that Time Gear."_

_"Not only do we have to collect all the Time Gears, we also need to worry about a thief that tries the same. I have a theory who it might be but it's just a theory."_

_"If the thief has the goal to collect more than one Time Gear, he will eventually try to find us. So if we get at least one gear before him, we have a plan to capture him."_

All the stress from the recent weeks made me completely forget about the second thief, Grovyle was talking about.

...

'But... Is there really a second thief? Nobody in Treasure Town has seen any other Pokemon that could be that thief. And I don't think that Grovyle has found the other thief either... He was talking about a theory... Maybe he thought that Dusknoir took it to prevent him from collecting all of the Time Gears... But if Dusknoir had the gear with him all the time... Wouldn't the symbol on my pa...'

Letting out a mental gasp, sat myself up again. 'Wait... Grovyle found me at Treeshroud Forest when time had already stopped there . That weird symbol on my paw only shows up when I'm near another Time Gear.'

"Ri? What's wrong?" Ozu asked, giving me a confused look.

I ignored him.

'The symbol looks exactly like a Time Gear... Could I... Could I somehow be the reason why the gear from Treeshroud Forest has disappeared? Maybe...'

"Ri?!" I felt someone touch my left shoulder.

"Huh? What?" I looked at the owner. Ozu was looking at me with a worried look.

"What's wrong?" he asked putting his hand away.

"Oh... It's nothing! Just thought about something that bugged me." I replied with a nervous voice.

"Bugged you? What is it?" he continued.

"Nothing important..." I let out an acted yawn. "Well, I think we should get some sleep! We gotta be fit, tomorrow!"

The fire-type seemed to be a little disappointed but nodded and got back on his bed.

It was already nighttime. Only a faint ray of moonlight was shining through our window.

I got myself into a comfortable sleeping position. "Good night!"

"Good night." my friends returned.

...

'Maybe... That symbol... It has to be connected to the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest. Ugh... But how can I be sure of that? I need to talk with Grovyle... Tell him about Duksnoir's plan... The symbol... And Riley...'

I rose my head a bit and looked at the Pikachu. Her eyes were still open and she was looking at me too.

Not wanting to say anything, I just put my head back down.

'Next time, I see them with Grovyle... I'm going to tell them. I'm sick of lying... And if Dusknoir get's in our way... Heck, I'll just beat him.'

Letting out a mental sigh, I closed my eyes.

I wasn't really feeling tired, but somehow I wanted to put my mind at rest and forget all the trouble for a short while.

Struggling to fall asleep, I could only try to keep my mind free from worrying thoughts.

Coming up with battle strategies was something that would distract me, so I thought about Dusknoir again.

'I wonder if Dusknoir is strong... If Grovyle fought him before, he sure is. He's a ghost-type... Meaning that physical attacks won't have that much effect. Ranged Bone Rush attacks could work... Would my aura affect him? Hmm... That ranged Force Palm would be another option to attack him. I could try to combine...'

After what felt like an hour of trying to kill time with theorizing, I finally fell asleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 18**


	19. Cornered

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 19 - Cornered  
**

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!"

Loudred's wake up call wasn't pleasant today.

My ears were still ringing, when I sat myself up and brought my right paw to my head.

It took me while before my brain was able to work properly again. Getting up, I looked at my friends.

Riley was already tying her scarf around her neck, while Ozu put his goggles on his head.

I walked over to our table on which my equipment was placed on. After I attached my pouches to my leg and hip, I tied my red scarf around my right upper arm.

When I grabbed my own desert goggles, I looked at them for a while, before I tied them around my neck again.

"You ready?" the Chimchar asked, putting his little backpack on his back.

"Yeah" I responded, following my friends out of our room.

The other guild members were already in the main room and ready for the morning briefing. We walked up to our usual spots and waited for Chatot and the guildmaster to start it.

When Dusknoir floated down from the first floor, Chatot took one step forward and spoke up. "Good morning, everyone! You know what we are going to to today!"

Dusknoir floated next to Chatot and Wigglytuff.

"We are going to catch the timegear-thief Grovyle!" the flying-type continued. "Dusknoir is going to explain the details of our plan now, so listen up and pay attention."

"Thank you, Chatot." Dusknoir said, getting everyone's attention. "My plan is to set up an ambush. After the first part of the dungeon, lies a separate cave-system with many corridors and passageways! Most of those passages lead to the same exit, where we would have to solve the secret of Crystal Cave. That is the ideal spot to set up our trap."

The ghost-type opened the mouth on his belly and pulled out a big, enrolled piece of paper.

"What I have here is a map of this system." The ghost-type unrolled the paper and showed it to everyone.

It was just like he said. A map of the cave was drawn onto it. There was a big room on the bottom, which I assumed to be the exit from the first part of the dungeon. Many corridors went away from that room and ended at the same room at the top of the sheet. A couple of the hallways lead to separate rooms, which were most likely dead-ends.

"We are going split up and go through each corridor in preset teams. If the thief managed to get into Crystal Cave before us, we might be able to find him in one of them. Should he have already solved the secret, we will rush through the second part of the dungeon and corner him at the deepest part of the cave." the ghost-type continued.

'Okay... I need to come up with a plan. If we are going to travel in teams, that means that Ozu and Riley are going to explore with me. If we manage to find Grovyle in one of those tunnels... I'm going to tell them... And warn Grovyle about Dusknoirs trap... Should we don't find him and everyone is ready for the ambush, then I'll just need to find an excuse to go back into one of the tunnels... I'll head back to the entrance of the cave-system and wait for Grovyle there... But... If we find him before that... With the whole guild and Dusknoir... I can go on with Grovyle's backup plan... Should he get captured... I will finish the job.'

"We will travel to the entrance of the cave together and determine the teams there." he finished.

Chatot took over again. "Okay, you heard him! When everyone is ready, we will head out straight away."

A bit of mumbling could be heard from the other until everyone seemed to ready to go.

"It seems that we can head out. So... Let's get to it!" the flying-type ordered.

"HURRAY!" the whole guild cheered.

* * *

And so our journey to Crystal Cave began. It was completely different from the expedition, because, this time, the whole guild traveled together.

After we left Treasure Town a strange thought entered my mind. How we walked in a row... The chatting from the other guild members...

'Huh... This is almost like a school-trip.'

I remembered something about schools from the human world.

Walking next to Riley, I poked her on the shoulder and brought my head to her ear.

"Hey, Riley. Don't you think that this is very familiar to a school-trip." I whispered.

The Pikachu seemed to be a little confused at first but after a while, she whispered back. "Let's talk about it later. We have to catch that thief first."

"Oh, okay..." Her distant attitude was a little strange to me but I shrugged it off and began to admire the landscape again, just like I usually did when I was travelling.

The whole journey lasted for about six hours and it was probably short after noon when we arrived at the cave.

There was a clearing in front of the entrance with trees and bushes all around it.

"Okay, everyone! We are going to have a quick lunch and split up into the teams after that." Chatot announced.

All of us sat down onto the ground in a big circle. Chimecho had a bag full of apples with her, from which she served everyone with one fruit each.

While we were eating, I noticed something strange. My ears twitched, when I heard a rustling behind me.

When I turned around, I only caught a blue blur at the corner of my eye.

"Did you see that just now?" I asked into the circle.

"So you noticed too?" Dusknoir called over to me.

The other guild members were giving us confused looks.

"It was probably a Riolu or a Lucario from the nearby tribe. A scout I assume. A big group like us does give off a lot of aura after all." the ghost-type explained to me.

I remembered that Marowak told me about a tribe of Lucario near Crystal Cave.

Swallowing the last bits of my apple, I was thinking about visiting them but quickly remembered that I had much more important things to do.

The others finished their meals too and Chatot pulled out a piece of paper.

"Okay now! I'm going to announce the teams now!" he announced. "First team! Suflora, Bidoof, Corphish and Loudred. Second team! Diglett, Dugtrio, Croagunk and Chimecho! Third team! Riley, Ozu, Ri... and the guildmaster!?"

"Hurray! I'm going to explore with my apple friend!" the fairy-type cheered.

I sweatdropped and tried to implement him into my plan. 'Wigglytuff would probably believe me too... Ugh... I need to find Grovyle first though.'

"Err... Okay, then. Dusknoir and I will form the final team then." the parrot-like Pokemon continued. "Alright! Let's go."

We made our way into the cave and entered the first dungeon.

The floors and walls were covered with blue crystals, which were lighting up the rooms and hallways we were exploring.

Wigglytuff was leading our group and did a surprisingly good job. I almost looked like if he knew where the staircase to the next floor would be as we only had to clear one to two rooms on each floor.

And when we came across any wild Pokemon, he mostly just knocked them out with one kick to the face and let out a happy laugh doing so.

We were just about to leave the final floor when another Riolu entered the room with the staircase. It was very weird to see another Pokemon from my species. The others noticed it too and looked at the two of us for a while.

My friends were ready to leave, but I walked up to feral Pokemon and got into my normal battle stance.

"Come on, Ri! Let's go!" Riley called over to me.

"Hang on! I'm going to fight that Riolu really quick!" I yelled back.

The wild Riolu really did look like me. Except for my equipment and the slightly longer fur on my head. It's battle stance was completely different too.

The fight didn't last very long. When the fighting-type rushed at me, I simply pushed it's arms away and attacked it's exposed chest with a Force Palm.

The Pokemon faded into black smoke and I looked at the cloud with a somewhat disappointed look.

Letting out a sigh, I walked back to my friends and we left the dungeon.

We were at the big room that was drawn onto Dusknoir's map when we came out.

It was darker than in the dungeon. The crystals only grew out of the earth here and there and overall, their light seemed to be a little weaker. A lot of openings were in the room. There weren't any other Pokemon yet, so I assumed that we were the first group to arrive.

Opening my pouch, I pulled out the Luminous Orb, Grovyle has given me. Only holding it in my hand and thinking 'light' activated it.

The area my orb was luminating wasn't really big but at least I would see everything that was in front of my feet. I used the leather band on the orb to attach it onto my pouch.

Ozu pulled out two other Luminous Orbs and gave one to Riley and one to the guildmaster. After that, he created a little fire in his hand and used the flame as his own light source.

After a couple of minutes, the rest of the guild members came out from the exit of the dungeon and the teams walked up to the corridor, they would explore. A few of them also used orbs to light up the a small area around them.

Riley lead us to the one that was the furthest to the right.

When everyone was ready, Chatot held one last speech. "Okay! You know the plan! We are going to meet up at the other end of this cave-system! Should you find the thief on the way, don't hesitate to knock him out. Should you not be able to defeat him, the rest of us will capture him at the ambush!"

My friends and I were the last ones to head into out corridor. Wigglytuff was playing with a Perfect Apple which he pulled out from nowhere.

It took us a while to calm him down and get him to follow us to the opening.

"If I remember the map correctly, we have to go right two times and left at the last crossing." Ozu said as we reached the first crossing.

We followed his suggestion and took the path to the right.

Just before we reached the next crossing, Riley bumped into me.

"Oh, sorry!" she apologized, grabbing my shoulder for a moment.

"No problem." I returned with a smile.

The four of us headed right at the crossing and made our way to final one before our destination.

All of a sudden, our Luminous Orbs began to dim down and flicker on and out.

"Ohoho! Spooky!" Wigglytuff chuckled.

"What's wrong with this thing?" I asked, detaching it from my pouch and and shaking it in my hand.

And then, they went out for good. Only Ozu's flame and a couple of crystal's were still lighting up the corridor.

"Great, what now?" Riley asked with an annoyed voice.

"Just stay close to me, I'll take the lead." the Chimchar next to me said, letting the fire in his hand grow a bit.

We followed the fire-type until Riley stopped us all of a sudden.

"Hey! Did you hear that?" she asked, taking a few steps ahead.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked. "I didn't hear anything."

Suddenly the Pikachu ran off without any warning. "I think it's the thief!"

"What?!" I yelled after her. "Wait!"

I quickly followed her.

"Ri! Don't run off without us!" Ozu called out but we were already out of their sight.

'Dammit! What is she doing?'

When we came to the crossing, she took the opening that lead to the right.

"Wait, god dammit!" I tried to catch up to the Pikachu but it was very hard to run in the dark without tripping.

I caught one last glimpse of the yellow mouse when she ran past a glowing crystal. Then she was gone.

"Riley! Where are you!?" I shouted as I ran into the darkness in front of me.

No response.

After a while, I saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel. The hallway was getting more lit up with every step I came closer to the light.

When I finally reached the exit, I found myself in a huge circular room which was covered with glowing crystals.

"Riley?!" I yelled, scanning the room for the Pikachu. The electric-type was nowhere to be seen.

I walked further into the room. "Riley?! Where are you?!"

...

Still no response.

'What the hell? This is a dead-end. Where did she go?'

I turned around to leave the room again.

Halfway there, I noticed something in the shadow of the opening.

Whatever it was, stepped out of the darkness and revealed a Pikachu.

* * *

**Earlier...**

"Anyway, should Ozu fail to get her to talk, we go to Phase Two... Lock down..." Dusknoir continued. "We are going to take her with us to Crystal Cave tomorrow."

"Crystal Cave? What are we doing there?" I asked.

"We're going to set up an ambush for Grovyle. The final Time Gear is located there." he answered.

The ghost-type then showed me a map and told every detail he knew about the cave.

"While I and my men handle the thief, you and the other guild members corner Ri in that dead-end."

The ghost-type then pointed at a room that was on the right side of the map.

"We are going to split everyone up in teams, so your job is to lead her there. The other guild members will act like they are exploring their own corridors. What they are really going to do is sneak after you and trap her there."

"But you must make absolutely sure that she cannot flee. Her explorer-badge could just teleport her out of there. Try to steal it before you lead her into the trap." he added.

"O-okay..." I tried to play the whole scenario in my head.

"After that, we come to Phase Three... Confrontation." Dusknoir explained.

"In Phase Three, you tell her that you know everything about her and Grovyle... Now there is something we have to talk about before we can continue. She might try to talk herself out with ridiculous excuses... Like trying to save the world for example..."

"Save the world? But that..." The ghost-type interrupted me.

"It is a lie." the ghost-type said with a strict voice. "Let me tell you how you and Grovyle managed to travel back in time in the first place. You tricked the legendary Pokemon Celebi into thinking that the both of you are trying to safe the world... When we confronted her, she told us that you said something about collecting the five Time Gears and bringing them to Temporal Tower. Do not believe anything, coming from that topic."

"What am I supposed to believe then?" The whole story was just confusing me by now.

"Well, it is true that there is a Temporal Tower in the future. It is also true that I'm a servant of Dialga, the master of time... Should she mention that..." he continued. "What you should believe is that my master has foreseen Grovyle's and your plan to destroy time. He ordered me to stop you two from causing the planet's paralysis."

"I... I still can't believe I could've wanted something like this..." My head sank towards the ground. "And... To think that Ri is trying to... Ugh..."

"I'm not sure if Ri is really trying to destroy the world... Maybe Grovyle managed to trick her with the same "Saving the world" story... In that case, you have to convince her that what she had been doing was wrong. You should question her trust into Grovyle. Maybe she is going to realize her mistakes and surrender without any resistance." Dusknoir finished.

"That doesn't excuse that she lied to us." I growled, baling my right paw into a fist.

"I know, I know... You can talk about you differences after we have captured Grovyle..." he said, trying to calm me down.

"However, should she be fully aware of what she is doing or still believe Grovyle's lie..."

* * *

Riley slowly came closer to me, giving me a familiar look. The same one she had given me the first time I woke up after the expedition... A look of hate and disgust.

"R-Riley? What's wrong?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable by her stare.

"Why don't you tell me? Did you think you could lie to us forever?" she asked with a voice that was full of disgust too.

My eyes shot open and all of my muscles froze in place. "W-what?"

"You heard me right! I know that you are helping the thief!" Riley continued.

It took me a while before my brain realized the whole situation.

When I was about to answer, I saw Ozu and the guildmaster come out from the opening.

Shortly after them, the rest of the guild members followed and walked next to the electric-type in front of me.

"I-I can explain!" I called over to them.

"Go on! Explain to me that you are trying to destroy the world!" she replied.

The other guild members began to form a circle around me.

"It's not like that! Trust me, Grovyle and I are trying to save it!" I explained.

"Oh, here we go... That stupid excuse you would tell us." the electric-type said with an annoyed voice.

The others had me completely surrounded now.

"E-excuse?! But it's the truth! You see Temporal Tower is..." Riley interrupted me before I could continue.

"Shut up!" she screamed. "Dusknoir told me everything."

...

"Really?!" I asked trying to get the upper hand in our argument. "Did he also tell you that Grovyle had a human partner called Riley?! You would be his accomplice!"

"I already know that too... I... If I stop you, Dusknoir is going to let me go. I can keep on living with Ozu and just forget that other person I used to be!"

"But Riley! You tried to save the...!" The electric-type interrupted me again.

"Stop with this crap already!" she shouted, her voice full of anger.

I grit my teeth.

"You would rather believe the person that tells you that you tried to destroy the world than the one that tells you that you tried to save it?!" I screamed, annoyed by her stubborn behavior.

The Pikachu broke eye-contact and grit her teeth. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a growl before she continued. "I would rather believe the person that didn't lie to me, ever since we met!"

Those words silenced me. I didn't know how to respond this. After all...It was the truth.

...

"I trusted you... We trusted you!" she continued, pointing at the fire-type next to her.

"Ozu..." I said, looking at him. The Chimchar had a sad look on his face.

He didn't respond. It looked like as if he didn't even want to be here right now.

I looked at the other guild members.

Chatot looked like he was about to explode. "To think that we had a thief in our guild! This is unacceptable!"

Wigglytuff's expression didn't fit the other ones at all. He was still looking at me with the stupid grin he had on his face all the time.

The others looked disappointed too.

I heard a little mumbling between them. "How could you?... I thought you were our friend... To think we ate at the same table with a thief..."

I looked back to the Pikachu, who was still giving me her stare.

"What about you? Do you believe Grovyle? What tells you that he told you the truth?" she asked with a slightly less offensive tone.

"W-what?" My mind wasn't really able to process that question.

"What if Grovyle lied to you? What if you are not saving the world with you actions?" the electric-type repeated.

'Grovyle... Lie to me? That...' I never considered something like that.

My eyes widened. 'What... What if everything I have been doing so far was wrong?! What if I'm actually destroying the world right now? Would... Would Grovyle really do something like that?!'

An image of him rushed through my mind. A lot of feelings were coming from it, however, the onslaught of emotions stopped when I imagined his eyes in front of my face. His eyes... Going over all of our conversations again, I tried to rememeber them at every word he said... Those eyes, they couldn't belong to a lair...

Shaking my head, I collected my thoughts and tried to focus again.

"He would never do something like that! I believe him!" I finally answered with a determined look.

The Pikachu closed her eyes. "Is it because you like him?"

"W-what? NO!" I felt how my cheeks turned red a bit when I took one step back.

"Ri... Please..." Her voice had changed. Almost as if she tried to bring up the last bits of friendship she felt towards me.

My cheeks had already turned normal again when I answered. "I'm sorry... He's my friend too and I made a promise to him."

* * *

**Earlier...**

"... we come to Phase Four... Elimination..." Dusknoir carried on.

"E-elimination?!" I asked with a worried voice. 'Sure, I'm angry at Ri... But killing her?!'

The ghost-type sighed. "It has nothing to do with killing... You're just going to make the Riolu surrender by force or knock her out if you have to. The whole guild and the guildmaster should be enough to defeat her."

"I think it's not going to be as simple as that. Her fighting-style focus on swift knockouts... Some of the slower guild members might not even be able to move an inch before she knocks them out." I folded my arms and tried to remember the previous battles we had alongside her.

"That's why I chose you to come with a proper plan to fight her... You know her strenghts and weaknesses." he explained.

"After that, you bring her to me, so we can use her as a bait for Grovyle... He hopefully doesn't know that you are his real partner. That way, we could use Ri as blackmail to get him to turn himself in." the ghost-type finished.

My view wandered towards the ground.

"I... I still can't believe it." I turned away from him and slowly walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked in cold tone.

"I'm going to wait for her to wake up and ask her straight away." I was just about to reach the door when a black shadow flew through the edge of my vision.

Where the door used to be was now Dusknoir all of a sudden, giving me a soul piercing stare with his eye. "Why? So she can lie to you again and sabotage the ambush?"

Startled, I took one step away from him.

"Listen... I originally planned to take you with me into the future, once I have captured Grovyle. But here is the offer I was talking about. Should you be of assistance to me in this whole plan, I'm going to let you stay here in the past with Ozu." he said as his stare turned normal again.

My head wandered towards the ground again. 'I... I would have to leave Ozu if I don't help him?'

...

"You have a deal." I said with a blank voice.

His reponse was a little strange... An almost silent chuckle escaped his mouth before he spoke up again. "Very good... Come on, let's tell the others."

* * *

...

"You know what we have to do then..." she said, getting ready to fight.

I closed my eyes...

...

"Yes..." I answered, creating two bones in my hands.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 19**


	20. Phase Four

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 20 - Phase Four  
**

* * *

Time seemed to slow down when I opened my eyes again and looked around. My brain must've gone into overdrive in an attempt to get ahold of the current situation.

I was still inside the crystal-littered, circular room inside of Crystal Cave and still surrounded by my friends who were trying to capture me.

To my left were Chimecho, Croagunk, Diglett and Dugtrio...

To my right were Loudred, Sunflora, Bidoof and Chorphish...

And in front of me... Ozu, Riley, Wigglytuff and Chatot...

'Alright, Ri... This is you against the whole Wigglytuff Guild. Twelve opponents... Not a big deal.'

The situation that caused this serious battle wasn't really something to laugh about, but I couldn't help myself. A faint grin formed on my face while I planned my strategy.

My eyes moved from one guildmember to the next, planning out a way to knock them out.

'Chimecho's Psychic can easily immobilize me... She's first.'

The plan that formed in my was to knock out the psychic-type in one hit and work myself up to the three Pokemon that would need a little more than a bone to the back of the head to be defeated.

My eyes wandered towards Wigglytuff and my friends.

Everything went normal again, when Riley gave out the order to attack.

"Now!" she yelled.

But instead of charging at me, the other guild members pulled out seeds which they brought up to their mouths.

A sign for me to make a move...

**~ BGM: Bravely Default - Wicked Flight**

Concentrating on Extremespeed, I dashed towards my first target. The psychic-type wasn't even able to let the seed float into her mouth before I used a well aimed bone to the back of her head to knock her out.

Chimecho was giving off a the sound of a bell, when my baton made contact. As her body slowly fell to the ground, her seed she had been holding in the air with her mind, wandered downwards too.

Still spinning in the air, I threw my right bone into the air and quickly grabbed the seed. I then let it slide into my pouch and landed on the ground, catching my baton again.

My view wandered towards the Croagunk next to me, who had just swallowed his seed.

I dashed behind him and pulled my arm in, preparing a "back-stab" attack towards his neck. When I threw the bone forward, the poison-type quickly moved his head to the side, evading my attack.

'What the...!'

I was stunned for a second when he turned around and threw his fist forward. At the last second, I managed to dodge his punch with a roll backwards.

'What kind of seed was that?!'

A green blur entered the side of my vision. Sunflora was throwing Razor Leaves at me. I quickly reacted and blocked them with my bones. A few sparks flew of my weapons when the sharp projectiles made contact.

The next attack was coming my way, as Croagunk went for another punch.

I increased my speed by using more aura and dashed behind the poison-type, going for a counter.

The super-effective bone strike to the back of his head knocked him out in one hit.

Another wave of leaves from Sunflora was coming my way. I had to do something about her...

This time, I threw my bones at her to block her Razor Leaves. My bones released their aura on contact and let out a small explosion, which stirred up a lot of dust between her, Bidoof, Loudred, Corphish and me.

My view wandered to my left. Diglett and Dugtrio were nowhere to be found.

Just when I thought about them, I felt that the ground underneath me was breaking apart.

I pushed myself away from the ground to evade a Dig attack from the smaller ground-type. Creating another overcharged bone in my hand, I immediately went for a counter, throwing my projectile downwards.

The bone made contact and busted into a small shockwave of aura again.

I wasn't able to debate if my attack knocked him out or not. Chatot was heading towards my direction with immense speed. His body was surrounded with dense airstreams, which only increased his speed even further.

Using Aerial Ace myself, I spun my body around and evaded his attack by inches. Concentrating on Extremespeed again, I used the momentum from Aerial Ace to spin myself around yet again and brought my right paw onto the flying-type's back.

The guildmasters assistant was sent towards ground with a loud blast from my Force Palm. He left a small crater on the impact.

Still flying in the air, my view wanted towards the rest of my opponents. I was slowly able to feel the exhaustion from my frequent use of Extremespeed.

Riley, Ozu and the guildmaster were just watching me, while Sunflora was sending another pair of leaves up to me.

Using my aura to create the dense airstreams around my body again, I dodged her projectiles with an aileron roll. However, one of them managed to hit my upper arm, making me grit my teeth as the razor cut through my flesh.

My eyes and ears focused onto Loudred who was shooting out a sound wave from his mouth. Supersonic.

I blended out everything that happened around me and used Own Tempo. The wave went right through my body, not having the slightest effect.

A grin formed on my face when I became aware of my surroundings again.

"SHE'S CONFUSED! GET HER NOW DUGTRIO!" the normal-type yelled.

I gasped when a giant stone pillar shot out from the ground underneath me all of a sudden. Stone Edge.

By using Aerial Ace yet again, I barely managed to evade it. I had to dig my left paw and feet into the ground to slow down my landing.

Loudred had a shocked expression on his face. "WHAT?!"

I dashed towards Sunflora, creating two new bones in my paws. Running past Loudred, who was still startled that his attack didn't have any effect, I prepared myself to knock out the grass-type next to him.

When I was behind her, I jumped up to her head, readying my bone.

My eyes widened when my bone hit a shield of flowers, which was growing out of her neck.

Landing back on my feet, I struggled to pull my baton back out.

I looked to my right. Corphish was almost in my face, swinging his claw down at me. Crabhammer.

Bringing my bone up to protect myself, I nearly fell to my knees when the attack connected.

A small shockwave was created when his claw impacted on my bone.

Letting my bones disappear, I quickly rolled out of their range and created one new baton in my left paw.

I gave Bidoof a quick glance, who was just watching me with a shocked expression.

Loudred was preparing another sound based attack. I concentrated on Extremespeed again and dashed behind the normal-type.

The stored energy from his blast shot out when a bone to the back of his head knocked him out.

The Pokemon fell to the ground and I focused on Sunflora and Corphish again.

I used all the aura I could bring up to get behind them, not even giving them the chance to react.

My first attack was a baton to the grass-type's neck. She was knocked out immediately and while I was wandering towards the ground again, I brought my left paw to Corphish's back.

The force from my Force Palm pushed him into the ground with a loud blast and sent me back into the air a bit.

I landed on my feet and quickly turned around. Bidoof was staring at me with wide open eyes.

He gulped and took one step backwards, when I walked towards him.

My ears twitched and I heard the ground behind me crack open. Pouring more aura into the the bone I was holding in my right hand, I turned around and threw my bone towards Dugtrio, who was trying to attack me from behind. A small explosion knocked him out and surprisingly made me stumble back a few steps.

I looked at Bidoof again. My vision was already beginning to turn blurry from using so much aura.

Ignoring my exhaustion, I used Extremespeed again and knocked the normal-type out with a light but well aimed blow to the back of his head.

The cloud of dust from before had already set down again and I was able to see my friends and the guildmaster again.

'Okay... Now comes the tough part...'

Taking a deep breath, I created a new bone in my left paw and focused my view on the fairy-type.

Using Extemespeed again, I dashed forward.

Just like at our match, at Marowak's Dojo, he didn't move an inch... But his eyes... They were following me closely when I dashed past him.

"Luuuu..."

My eyes widened when I pulled my hand in to prepare a strike.

The Wigglytuff turned around, his eyes still focused on me. Somehow I was able to feel a great amount of energy radiating from him.

"FIIIIII!" the fairy-type screamed with a wide open mouth.

I gasped when a huge amount of energy had formed in his mouth.

My opponent let his attack loose with a huge explosion and I was engulfed by a white blast of dense sound waves. Hyper Voice.

**~ Stop music**

My screams drowned under the loud noise his move made. The bones in my hands disappeared and I was sent flying backwards.

The landing on the floor was rough because it took my body quite a while to halt again.

My ears were ringing and my vision was even blurrier than before. I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

...

Pain.

My legs and arms were covered in bruises and cuts... My skin burned as if somebody had brushed me with sandpaper. My fur... A mess... The blood from my wounds gave my normally blue fur a couple of purple and red stains. My goggles... Broken... My scarf... Ripped and dirty...

Pushing my aching body up to my feet, I faced the guildmaster and my friends again.

"Do you have enough?" Riley asked.

I was panting hard and not really able to stand properly.

'Enough? No... I have been here before... Beaten and exhausted... Completely overpowered by my opponents.'

I didn't know why but the familiar feeling made me happy somehow.

The Pikachu became angry when I began to laugh all of a sudden.

"Hehehe..." My eyes met those of Wigglytuff.

"Is it...too late to...ask for...that rematch you promised me?" I panted with a grin.

"W-what?!" Riley yelled angrily, walking next to the fairy-type.

Ozu was just giving me a confused look. While I was looking at him, I noticed that he was still holding his seed in his hand.

I looked back to Riley.

"I'm not talking to you." I said, getting into my battle stance.

"What is wrong wi..." The Pikachu got interrupted by the pink Pokemon next to her.

"She's right... Hehehe!" Wiggltyuff held his arm in front of her and let out another giggle.

"Guildmaster! You want to..." She was interrupted again.

"Yup!" he confirmed taking one step forward.

...

I bit through my pain and dashed at him, pulling my right fist back.

The fairy-types eyes followed my movements again and just when my punch was about to connect, he sidestepped.

I concentrated on Extremespeed and only stirred up dust could be seen where I my foot had touched the ground when I dashed behind him again.

I threw my left elbow into his right side. But just like before... When my attack was about to hit him, he sidestepped again.

Using the momentum from my last attack, I shot my right right foot forward, aiming for his belly.

The fairy-type pushed out all the air from his lungs and pulled his stomach in, making my kick hit... Nothing.

I blinked when I was holding my foot in the empty space. "What the?!"

Wigglytuff immediately went for a counter and inhaled a huge amount of air, making his belly grow again.

At the same time he jumped forward, pushing me away with his stomach. The force he was able to deliver that way was more than expected, as I had to dig my feet and right paw into the ground to slow my landing down.

If I wanted to win this fight, I had to come up with a plan. When I got back up to my feet, I kinked together a bit. I felt completely drained and biting through my pain was getting harder with every second.

Concentrating all the aura I could bring up on Extremespeed once again, I dashed at the fairy-type.

When I was in reach, I touched his belly with my right paw.

Bringing up the rest of aura I still had, I prepared a full powered Force Palm.

I looked at the Wigglytuff... He was staring at me with his usual grin.

"Haaah!" I let out a scream when I released the stored energy.

The recoil from the blast made me stumble back a few steps. My arm hurt like hell and my vision turned blurry again.

My eyes widened when I saw that my attack didn't have any effect. Wigglytuff was still staring at me with his silly smile.

"W-what?!" I looked at him in shock.

"Hihihi!" I heard a chuckle from behind me, when the Pokemon in front of me suddenly exploded into white smoke.

Holding my right arm with my left one, I slowly turned around.

I knew what kind of move he had just used. "S-substitute?"

"Yup,yup,yup! Pretty nifty move to have!" the fairy-type cheered.

He was only a couple of steps away from me and had a happy smile on his face.

"And now..." Wigglytuff held his hand out, almost as if he was trying to embrace me... Or...

I took one step away and held my left paw out when I remembered what he had done the last time we fought. "Please... Don't..."

"Ahaha! I'm not going to use that again, silly!" he chuckled as he slowly got closer to me.

The fairy-type dashed towards me, preparing his attack.

He let out another laugh when he jumped at me. As soon as he touched me, my vision became occupied by a thick smoke.

I felt a punch to my right side... Left side of my face... Back...

A barrage of unavoidable attacks hit me as I was not even able to orientate myself...

Wigglytuff ended his Play Rough attack with one final kick to my belly, throwing me out of the white cloud.

I landed on my stomach and almost lost conciousness when I impacted on the ground.

...

Here I was... At the edge of unconsciousness... However, my mind was still able to somewhat think properly.

My body wasn't really able to get any information from outside... The pain was pretty much occupying all the input to my brain.

I had been in a similar situation before... However... This time it felt different.

'Dammit...'

I was mad about my defeat...

'It's over... Dusknoir has won... He's going to capture Grovyle and Temporal Tower is going to collapse... Time is going to stop... I... I couldn't stop him... My friends... Grovyle... What is going to happen to them?... What is going to happen to me?... Heck, I don't even care anymore... I've lost their friendship... I've lost everything...'

I tried to accept my defeat and just let go...

A strange thought entered my mind...

'But... I haven't really lost yet, have I? I can still try to get up and keep going. I could still win this and save them...'

I struggled to send out a signal to at least on of my muscles...

'Move, god dammit! Move!'

I wasn't able to move an inch... Logic told me that I wouldn't be able to to so, no matter how hard I tried... However... Something in my mind simply wouldn't let me accept defeat...

'Why? Why can't I give up? I'm completely out of aura... I'm completely beaten... Why can't I just accept it?!'

Searching my mind for a reason, I came across a strange thought... I remembered something that Ozu said to me...

_Don't lose the faith in yourself..._

Those words... A strange feeling rushed through my head when I repeated them in my mind.

Something changed... The pain all over my body slowly faded and I felt something come up from deep inside of me. It felt like a fire, which was coming from my belly, beginning to crawl over the rest of my body.

I became aware of my surrounding again. The voices of Riley and the guild master entered my ears.

"You won... It is over..." Riley said.

"No..." I pushed my body up and slammed my right fist into the ground.

My eyes shot open and two blue paws entered my vision.

**~ BGM: Condemnation Wings - BlazBlue Continuum Shift ****  
**

"This is not over!" The feeling of the fire inside of me was getting clearer as I felt it all over my body now. My arms were starting to give off the blue aura I usually used for my attacks. I got back up to my feet, still looking at my hands.

The rest of my body was emitting the same blue aura and the feeling inside of me was getting even more intense. As if the energy wanted to come out and escape my body.

Tensing up, began to concentrate on the somehow familiar fire inside of me.

I let out a battle-cry when I released the aura, creating a huge shockwave of energy around me. Dust was flying into every direction as the blue energy radiated from me.

Looking at the guild master and my friends again revealed that they had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Who are you?" the Pikachu muttered under her breath.

Wigglytuff was rather surprised than shocked actually...

My whole body was covered in a hull of aura. I felt great... All the pain from before was gone.

Getting into my battle-stance, I smirked at the fairy-type in front of me and concentrated on Extremespeed, dashing right in front of the guildmaster's face with a pulled back fist. I was actually surprised by the speed I just used.

This aura around me... Not only was I able to put more aura into the move, it also felt as if the aura was stronger. It was the same one I usually used, yet completely different at the same time.

Keeping up my speed-enhancing move to strengthen my punch, I threw my fist into the fairy-type's face, digging my hand into it. He was sent flying and landed a couple of feet away from me while I landed on my feet and looked at my fist with wide open eyes.

Riley and Ozu were speechless, just like I was.

Wigglytuff got back onto his feet, rubbing his swollen cheek with his left hand. "That wasn't nice," he pouted as tears formed in his left eye.

The fairy-type tensed up again and awaited my next move. He didn't have to wait long as I was already dashing at him once more. When I was in reach, I sent off a barrage of punches, using my enhanced speed. The guild master was able to keep up with my assault and dodged every single one of them, keeping his eyes locked on mine. One strike nearly made a hit but Wigglytuff quickly rolled back, getting out of range.

"LUUUFIII!" In his roll, he had prepared another Hyper Voice, which he immediately let loose when our eyes met again.

Trying to block the incoming damage, I held up my arms in front of me while I was engulfed by the white stream of energy with a loud blast.

"Ngh!" I cringed as the shockwave wandered through my body.

Instinct told me to release more aura to deflect his attack.

I did so and shot off a shockwave of aura around myself, dissolving the white stream of energy. I also regained my vision on the fairy-type. I immediately went for a counter and concentrated my energy into my right fist.

My opponent had a surprised look on his face, when I slammed my fist into the ground between us. Another shockwave of aura sent the Wigglytuff fly into the air.

Using Extremespeed again, I jumped after him.

Mid-air, I threw my left leg upward, pushing my opponent further into the air. Immediately after the first kick, I concentrated on Aeiral Ace to fling myself after the fairy-type. Another kick pushed him up even further. Using this techinque again, I pushed him almost into the ceiling of the cave with three powerful kicks, my legs digging into his body on every impact.

I finished my combo with another Aerial Ace to fling myself above the Wigglytuff.

Touching his belly with my right paw, I prepared a Force Palm and made eye-contact with him one last time. He must've been in pain but for some reason, he was still giving me his silly grin.

I concentrated a huge amount of aura into my paw and released it with an enormous blast. A shockwave rippled through the room as the fairy-type got shot towards the ground.

Another blast echoed through the cave when he made contact with the ground.

Landing on my feet, I waited for the dust to settle down and see if I had beaten my opponent or not.

The dust disappeared and... He was out cold... The fairy-type's whole body was covered in bruises and he wasn't moving anymore.

**~ Stop music**

Even though Wigglytuff was unconscious, I could still see a faint smile on his face.

'I... I did it! I beat him!'

My ears twitched and I heard an electric move, coming from my right.

I quickly took one step back, evading the attack and turned my view to the sender.

Riley was growling at me, her cheeks sparking with electricity.

Ozu was standing right behind her, still having a shocked look on his face.

"I don't want to do this... Not like this!" I called over to her.

"Fine! Surrender then!" the electric-type called back.

"Riley... I swear to you... We are not trying to de..." She interrupted me.

"I don't want to hear it anymore! Just get this over with!" she yelled, getting onto her front legs and covering her tail with metal. "Come on, Ozu!"

The Chimchar next to her didn't respond. He was just staring at the ground with a sad look.

She grit her teeth and focused her eyes on me again.

There was no way I could stop her with words...

'Dammit.'

Something was off all of a sudden...

I grit my teeth when I felt how the fire that was burning inside of me slowly dimmed down again. The aura that was radiating from me floated into the air and I became aware of my injuries again.

"Ngh!" My left eye shut tight as I was able to feel the full exhaustion from my fight again.

Feeling completely drained again, I could only hope that I still had enough aura for my next move.

'One bone... That's all I need...'

**~ BGM: Persona 4 Arena - Princess Amagi (Extended)  
**_(Riley's Battle Theme)  
_

Holding my right arm out, I concentrated the last bits of aura into it and created a silver shining bone in it.

The Pikachu dashed forward, using Quickattack to do so.

My eye was still closed, making it harder for me to follow her movements.

Holding my bone with two hands, I brought it up like a sword, trying to block Riley's swipes. Sparks were flying into the air whenever our "weapons" made contact.

She kept her offensive assault up, making me stumble back with every strike from her.

When the Pikachu used a Thunderpunch directly after I blocked one of her swipes, I wasn't able to dodge or block her move.

I screamed when the electrical punch hit my face.

Stumbling back even further, I was holding my face with my left paw, while my bone was still in my right one.

The Pikachu didn't stop there. With an unbelievably fast dash, she got in close, aiming another punch to my stomach.

Her attack sent me flying and I landed painfully on my back.

"Are you done?!" she screamed after me.

Gritting my teeth, I slowly got onto my shaky legs again. The bone in my paw had almost completely dimmed down... It wouldn't withstand another one of her Irontail attacks.

I had to come up with a plan... The Pikachu was slowly coming closer to me, her paw sparking with electricity again.

'Attacks... No... Hand to hand combat?... She would fry me... Dammit!... Items? Ugh... I don't think she would let me pull out an Oran berry now... And that seed? Ugh... Here goes nothing.'

I brought my left paw to my "hip-pouch", pulling out the seed I had stolen earlier.

When the Pikachu realized what I was doing, it was already to late. The seed was already between my teeth. I bit down on it and waited for the effect to kick in.

Riley charged at me with another Quickattack... My exhausted body wouldn't be fast enough to evade her attack.

I braced myself for the impact, however, when her fist was about to connect, I felt different all of sudden...

Moving my head out of the way, I began to see the world in a similar to when I used Extremespeed. At that moment, I knew what kind of seed they had eaten.

'A Quick Seed? So that's how they managed to keep up with me.'

I jumped back, creating come distance between us. While I was doing so, I pulled out an Oran Berry from my pouch and swallowed it whole. The pain from my injuries faded and I felt some of my strength return to me.

My opponents speed increased drastically all of a sudden. I gasped when I barely managed to evade her next punch. She wasn't using Quickattack... The white aura was missing. 'She didn't eat a seed... Right?'

Strengthening my bone and creating a new one in my left one, I jumped back again, creating some more distance between us.

I threw my two bones at her and followed behind them with the extra speed from the seed.

My eyes widened when the Pikachu simply dodged them with quick sidesteps and prepared another Thunderpunch. 'How can she be so fast?'

Increasing my own speed even further by using Extremespeed, I dashed behind her, ready to attack her from behind.

The electric-type was able to follow my movements and quickly turned around, giving off the aura streams from her Quickattack doing so.

I couldn't hit her and had to dodge as she was throwing her fist at me again. Concentrating on Extremespeed, I pushed her hand away with my left one, being careful not to touch the electricity on her fist. I then put my right paw onto her chest.

Just when I released a Force Palm, I felt how a bolt of electricity went through my arm.

"Aagh!" Both of us screamed when we began to feel the force from each others attacks.

She was sent flying with a blast as the rays of lighting she had sent into my body dissolved in the air between us.

Streams of black smoke were coming off from the burn marks on my fur.

I looked at my opponent... She had crashed into a wall a couple of feet away from me. Flying face first to the ground, Riley let out another grunt when she made contact with the hard floor. Holding her chest, she got back onto her feet.

The Pikachu's right eye was closed and she was panting hard.

I was panting myself... The effect from the Quick Seed was slowly fading and I felt that the amount of aura, the Oran berry had given me, was getting low too.

She began to walk towards me, covering her right fist with electricity again.

Doing the same, I began to cover my right hand with aura, preparing another Force Palm.

I dashed at her, concentrating on Extremespeed. The Pikachu mimicked my movements and sprinted at me with immense speed.

Riley threw her fist forward when she was in range. I used my right paw catch her hand and released the Force Palm at the exact time we touched.

The electricity around her arm got shot away with the blast of aura. Tightening my grip on her hand, I pulled her towards me. At the same time, I was throwing my other fist forward, aiming for her face.

Her eyes widened right before my fist dug into her face. The punch made her stumble back a few steps. I quickly dashed after her, preparing yet another Force Palm.

Putting my glowing paw onto the dazed Pikachu's chest, I released the aura with a loud blast.

She let out a scream of pain when my attack shot her into the wall again. My opponent landed on the ground, not moving anymore...

**~ Stop music**

This was it... I had won... I wanted to be happy about it but... My awareness of the entire situation simply wouldn't let me... I remembered that there was one last person I had to take care of...

...

"Ozu..." I panted, slowly turning towards the Chimchar behind me...

Everything was blurry but he was looking at me with a shocked face and wide open mouth. I was happy that he had not yet decided to fight me.

"You're the last one..." Holding my sore right arm, I began to walk closer to him.

The fire-type was speechless and seemed to be stunned. He was still holding his seed in his hand.

"Will you listen to me?" I asked with a desperate voice.

"I..." He took one step away from me.

I stopped... My friend was obviously scared of me...

"I'm sorry..." My head sank towards the ground. "For everything... My reticence... The lies... I..."

"R-Ri... I..." It seemed like he didn't know what to say.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me... But... I need your help... We have to do now is warn Grovyle about Dusknoir's ambush and get the Time Gear somehow." I faced him again.

The Chimchar shook his head and seemed to tense up. "How am I supposed to believe you after something like this? Look around you!"

I looked around me. Riley... Wigglytuff... And the other guildmembers... Everybody was laying unconscious on the ground.

Gritting my teeth, I let my head sink down again. "You're right... I...'

"So what if you are saying the truth?! Do you think we will ever trust you again after everything you did to us?"

Those words shocked me. "B-but I... I thought..."

"I don't care anymore... I..." He pointed at the opening behind him. "Just go! Go to your friend Grovyle and warn him!"

"Ozu... Please... I can't do this alone. I really need my team member to back me up." I said, trying to convince him as a member of our team.

"Team member?! You think you are still a member of Team Ignition?!" he almost yelled at me.

"W-what?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"GO ALREADY!" The Chimchar turned away from me, baling his hands into fist.

I didn't know how to respond.

A black blur rushed trough the side of my blurry vision and I felt an ice-cold hand touch my left shoulder all of a sudden.

I gasped when I heard a deep voice behind me. "Phase Five..."

It felt like my skin was pierced by a thousand needles when a unbelievably cold chill began to spread from my shoulder.

Turning to my left revealed that a grey hand was laying on my shoulder. A layer of ice was spreading from it, slowly crawling over the rest of my body.

"Should Ri be able to defeat all the guild members, I will take care of her personally..."

Those were the last words I was able hear before the ice began to cover my face.

The pain intensified and soon after everything around me was dark, I lost consciousness.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 20**


	21. Captured

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 21 - Captured**

* * *

My head was spinning and my senses were dulled by pain when I slowly regained my consciousness again.

Becoming aware of my body, I felt that I was hanging in the air. Something that felt like a rope was tied around my hands and the tension I felt from my arms indicated that my body was held up by them.

As if the pain from my injuries wasn't enough, I now had to deal with an increasing soreness in my arms with every moment that passed.

My senses slowly came back to me, making me even more aware of the signals my body was sending.

I tried to open my eyes. A blurry image of my lower body and legs entered my vision. The ground underneath me wasn't far away... I was just high enough in the air, that my feet barely didn't touch the ground.

My hearing returned too, and I was able to hear muffled voices all around me. However, I wasn't able to understand a single word from them.

Trying to move my body only sent a wave of pain through my body, making me stop my attempts to free myself from the bindings around my hands.

The image of my body slowly became clearer. A few spots of ice were still covering my fur. The bruises and cuts from my previous fight were still visible. My body was covered with dust and red stains of blood. My pouches were nowhere to be seen and I couldn't feel my goggles around my neck.

I moved my eyes to my right and saw a tattered piece of cloth hanging down my upper arm at the edge of my vision.

'What happened? Ugh... Fuck... This hurts...'

A weak whimper escaped my mouth. The cut from Sunflora's Razor Leaf was beginning to hurt like it was on fire... My weight was pulling my body down, making me feel the tension in my upper and lower arms.

Struggling against the pain, I rose my head to find out where I was.

I was still inside of Crystal Cave. I could tell by the crystals which were growing out of the stone walls all around me. A huge opening was in front of me.

Some strange creatures caught my attention. Purple imp-like Pokemon were standing next to the entrance to whatever room I was in right now. Inspecting them further made me realize that they were Sableyes.

Two others of them were standing right next to me, watching the opening closely.

'Sableyes? Aren't they supposed to be Dusknoir's minions?'

The thought about Dusknoir made me remember what had happened.

'God dammit... I... I need to get out of here.'

Not trying to get noticed, I looked up above me. My hands were bound with a rope which was attached to a wooden beam above me. The beam was sticking out of a log that was rammed into the ground behind me.

While I was able to see what was behind me, I noticed that about twenty other Sableye were scattered across the room.

I realized what was going on here while I let my head sink down again.

'This... This is the ambush... When Grovyle shows up here, they are going to...'

My thought was interrupted when somebody came out from the opening.

Dusknoir was floating into the room, giving orders to the dark-types around him.

My hearing had completely recovered and I was finally able to hear what the Pokemon around me were saying.

"We need more of you by the entrance!" Dusknoir ordered, pointing at a group of Sableeye next to him.

He began to approached me.

I acted like I was still unconscious and closed my eyes.

"You two! Keep an eye on her..." Dusknoir's voice said in a strict tone.

"Yessir!" the two voices next to me replied.

"You know what to do when he shows up." the ghost-type added.

He was giving out another couple of orders to his other men. His voice moved away from me, so I opened my left eye to see what was going on.

About ten Sableye were covering the opening now. A few of them had crawled above the entrance clinging onto the wall above it.

'I need to do something... I...Ngh!'

Another quiet whimper escaped my mouth as the pain from my right upper arm was starting to become unbearable. I felt how a warm liquid ran down my arm. The wound must've opened up again.

'God dammit... This sucks...'

Gritting my teeth, I tried to stay silent.

Dusknoir's voice was coming closer again. The ghost-type was probably right next to me now.

"Okay! Everything is set up! Get ready!" he shouted into the room.

Then everyone went silent. All eyes were fixed on the rooms entrance.

I didn't know how much time really had passed after what felt like an hour of waiting. The struggle against the pain kept my mind busy all the time as it had intensified to an unignorable agony. Not able to really form a single clear thought, I could only try to bite through this torture.

I was beginning to hear footsteps, coming out of the entrance.

My eyes shot open.

The Pokemon all around me tensed up, ready to jump at anyone who might enter the room.

I immediately opened my mouth and screamed when I was able to recognize the shape in the shadow of the opening.

"RUN! IT'S A TRAP!" My voice echoed through the room.

The Sableyes next to me jumped to the sound of my voice and reacted immediately as my face made an unpleseant contact with a fist.

In my dazed state, I wasn't even able to resist against the hands which were tying something around my mouth.

The punch was harder than I expected as the edge's of my vision became black.

Only able to see blurry dots, I watched a green one become covered by purple one's.

I heard the sound from a fight and the green dot became visible again.

"Surrender, Grovyle! Or do you want to get your partner killed?" Dusknoir's voice yelled. Just when he said those words, I began to feel something sharp touch my throat. Probably a claw from one of the Sableye.

The fight ended and I was able to see clearly again.

Grovyle was standing in front of the opening, looking at me with a shocked look on his face. His leaves were extended and a couple of unconscious Sableye were laying around him.

I wanted to scream and tell him to leave me behind, however the muzzle around my snout made me only able to blurt out unclear grunts.

Another group of Sableye was surrounding him.

His eyes focused on Dusknoir, who was slowly floating towards him.

"Do you think you can get out of this? First of all, you would have to deal with the fact that we would kill your partner, should you decided to make another move." the ghost-type said with a confident voice. "Secondly, you would have to fight your way through about thirty Sableye and me, the only Pokemon you never managed to defeat before."

Grovyle grit his teeth and looked at me again. His inner conflict must've been at its climax right now as his whole body was shaking.

"So... What is your choice?" Dusknoir asked with an evil chuckle at the end.

...

My friend let his head sink towards the ground and pulled his leaves back in, cursing under his breath while he did so.

He let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry, Riley." the grass-type said before the Pokemon around him began to beat him up.

Ripping his backpack from his back, the dark-types sliced at him with their claws.

One of them carried the backpack to Dusknoir while the others continued to attack Grovyle.

The Sableye stopped and a beaten Grovyle was revealed underneath them. Two of them tied his arms together behind his back while another one attached a muzzle around his mouth.

Dusknoir floated up to the defeated grass-type, already holding a Time Gear in his hand, which he pulled out from Grovyle's bag.

An evil laugh left his mouth before the ghost-type gave out his next order. "Knock them out and take them to the prison-cart."

At the exact moment he ended his sentence, I felt something hard, hit the back of head.

* * *

My head hurt like it was about to explode when I woke up again. I was laying on my right side what made me forcefully remember the open wound on my upper arm again.

I opened my eyes and found myself inside of a metal room. The room was shaking constantly, making my head hurt even worse.

Trying to move only made me realize that my hands were now bound together behind my back and that the muzzle from before was still on around my snout.

'Where... Where am I?'

Another tremble went across the room.

'Ugh... Right... Dusknoir said something about a cart.'

With a grunt of pain, I managed to bring my body up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall behind me.

A metal door with a small window with steel bars was at the other side of the carriage.

To my right was Grovyle who seemed to slowly wake up too. The grass-type was moving and grunted when he noticed the bindings around his hands and snout.

His body was covered with cuts and bruises. The Sableye beat him up really good. His face was swollen and the green scales on his body have become a brownish color due to the dirt and dust that covered his skin.

His eyes opened and it took him a while to orientate himself. The grass-type sat up too and leaned himself against the same wall as I did.

I looked into his golden eyes, giving him a questioning look.

Something was off... The thing, I admired the most on him, was missing. The look that told you that everything would turn out good was gone and replaced by a look that mimicked my own.

I tried to say something... The "words" that left my mouth were not understandable.

The grass-type responded by shaking his head.

Breaking eye-contact, I let my head sink towards the ground.

'God dammit... I'm not even able to tell him now...'

...

I took another quick glance at Grovyle. His was hanging down as well.

'What are they going to do with us?... Kill us? Lock us away?... Ugh... There is nobody that could help us... Riley... Ozu... The guild... They must hate me now... I... I've lost everything...'

Another tremble went across the room, which made me bump closer to the grass-type next to me. The wound on my arm crashed against his upper arm and another wave of pain shot through my body.

As if the pain alone wasn't enough, I had my mind crowded with thoughts of doubt and loss.

A desire to do something I really hated, was beginning to slowly well up inside of me as tears were starting to form in my eyes.

The anger that always came with them got turned into even more desperation very quickly. There was nobody I could project it at, other than myself.

'Don't cry... Not... Not in front of him...'

That last thought flew through my head before another signal of pain finally broke my resistance.

With a loud whimper, I let go and the tears began to flow out of my eyes.

I closed my eyes and let my head sink down... I felt how the warm drops my tears fell on my lower body.

The muzzle on my mouth kept me from sobbing loudly and all that came out were grunts and whimpers.

Another tremble pushed me against Grovyle. I didn't want him to see me like this, but my mind decided to look up to his face.

The image was blurry but I was able to see a look on his face, that I had never seen before. A look that said something like, "I understand your pain." The grass-type slid closer to me and looked at his shoulder as if he tried to indicate me to cry everything out there.

I did just that and leaned my head against Grovyle, not caring about how close our bodies were nudged together.

For probably an hour I was sitting there, leaning against him and crying out my depressions.

...

My body was still pushed against his, when the tears on my eyes had dried down again. At the back of my head, I had a thought of how this might have looked like but I didn't care.

I just wanted somebody to be near me... Somebody to share my pain with...

...

* * *

After a while, it felt like as if the carriage had stopped. We heard voices from outside... A lot of voices...

When the iron-door in front of us opened, I knew where they were coming from.

Behind the silhouette of a Sableye, I was able to see the main square of Treasure Town. A huge crowd of Pokemon was gathered all around it.

"Come on! Get out!" the dark-type ordered.

I looked at Grovyle, who was already getting up.

I tried to lift up my aching body, and after a short struggle, I managed to get onto my shaky legs.

We walked closer to the exit of our metal prison and when I was right in front of the Sableye, he grabbed me and pulled me out of the carriage.

The dark-type pushed me to two other Sableye, who put me between them and grabbed me on my upper arm.

I looked around myself.

The huge crowd of Pokemon was looking down at me and a lot of mumbling and straight up insults towards me could be heard from them.

The metal-carriage behind me had a Tauros attached to it. Another group of Sableye was untying the ropes the normal-type used to pull the cart.

The Sableye from before pulled out Grovyle and pushed him against two other dark-types, who grabbed the grass-type like the other ones did with me.

My view went back in front of me. The crowd was building a circle around Dusknoir, who had something like a portal next to him.

The Sableye pushed me forward... I heard more insult from the crowd...

Letting my head sink towards the ground, I tried to evade the looks of hate and disgust everyone was giving me.

When we were almost at the circle around Dusknoir, I noticed something strange... A familiar dizzy feeling entered my head and my vision became blurry...

I knew what made me feel like this but how it could happen right now was a mystery to me... Maybe Dusknoir still had the Time Gears with him.

We entered the circle and I let out a mental gasp, when I noticed who was standing a couple of feet away from the ghost-type.

My friends and the rest of the guild members... They were covered in bandages and gave me similar looks to the rest of the crowd.

I didn't even dare to look at Riley... Letting my head sink down again, I tried to evade their hateful looks.

The Sableye brought me next to Dusknoir and the portal... The dizzy feeling became worse with every second.

When Grovyle and his captors were in position too, Dusknoir floated forward and got everyone's attention.

"I can proudly announce that we managed to capture the timegear-thief Grovyle and his accomplice!" the ghost-type said with a loud voice.

The crowd responded with cheers and mumbles.

"We will bring them back to our time and give them their proper punishment, based on the heaviness of their crimes!" he continued.

Dusknoir then looked at the Sableye who were holding me, indicating them to push me through the portal.

I tried to resist but in my current state there was nothing I could.

The dark-types dragged me in front of the portal which I assumed to lead into the future.

My vision was completely blurry now and the dizzy feeling made it hard for me to keep on standing.

"Do it." Dusknoir's voice ordered.

The Sableye pushed me up by my arms, what made a grunt of pain escape my mouth and threw me into the portal.

As soon as I touched the passageway to another time, everything began to spin and a strange sensation ran over my body. My left arm felt like it was on fire and overall I just felt like I'm being ripped apart.

The pain and spinning faded and I felt how my face made an uncomfortable contact with the ground.

Rolling onto my belly, I felt how the bindings on me were suddenly gone.

I opened my eyes and was greeted with the blurry image a stone floor.

Above it was a blue portal...

I was able to see underneath the portal and noticed a group of Pokemon who's eyes were focused on the portal in front of me. The rest of the scenery looked exactly like the main square of Treasure Town.

Nobody seemed to take any notice of me as a couple of bushes were occupying the view behind the portal.

'What the... I... I'm still here...'

At the left corner of my vision, I was able to see a black paw with something like a spike sticking out of it. I didn't know if it was mine or not... My whole body was aching and my head was spinning.

At the right corner, I was able to see a Grovyle that was dragged towards the portal in front of me by two Sableye.

I tried to move and do something but my muscles didn't respond to any of my orders.

My hearing was muffled but I managed to hear another order from Dusknoir.

The grass-type was thrown into the portal and unlike me, disappeared when he went through it.

'What is happening?'

The dizziness became worse and I felt myself losing conciousness.

Something touched my sides all of a sudden... Something or somebody was picking me up from the floor.

The last things I was able to see, before everything went black, was the image of a blue tail and two black, dog-like feet.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 21**

* * *

...

Mind blown?

Haha, another twist! I love it!


	22. The Spirit of Faith

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

Well... I'm dropping the bomb on you.

Chapter title... Story title... Notice something?

* * *

**Chapter 22 - The Spirit of Faith**

* * *

**BGM: Id (Darkness) - Fire Emblem Awakening**

Here I was again... The black void, where time didn't seem to exist...

My body felt non-existant and my thoughts echoed through the darkness.

_This again... What is this place?_

_Hello?! _

_..._

_Is somebody there?!_

_..._

The presence that usually appeared here after a while, didn't show up this time.

I was alone.

...

Something was strange when I regained the awareness of my body again. The dream-like coat was placed over my senses but all of it just felt... Different.

The scenery changed and what I assumed to be the memory of a forest entered my vision.

_I was somewhere in a forest. The whole scenery seemed familiar somehow and something that was laying on the ground in front of me caught my attention. I walked over to it and bent down to pick up the object. The fog around it from the previous times was gone and I was finally able to identify it. It was a Time Gear. I noticed something strange about my paw. It was black and a spike was sticking out at its backside. But somehow... It felt right to me. _

_All of a sudden the earth began to shake violently and I heard something from behind me. Turning around, revealed that a wave of darkness was coming my way. The Time Gear in my hand began to glow when the black smoke reached me. It's light was somehow preventing the fog from touching me._

_My view focused onto the cloud in front of me. I felt another presence. Two red glowing eyes appeared in the darkness. They belonged to something evil... A beast... Something that was intending to kill you... A shiver ran down my spine when it slowly came closer to me._

_The glow of the Time Gear intensified, when the creature in front of me let out a mighty roar. A shockwave was shot into my direction and the glow from the gear in my hand became blinding. My whole body felt as if it was ripped apart and crushed at the same when the wave went through me._

_With an unbearable feeling of pain, I was able to see those eyes one last time before everything began to spin and slowly turn black._

**Stop music**

* * *

My eyes shot open and a gasp escaped my mouth.

Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm down my racing heart.

'What... What was that?... I... That was a Time Gear... And the forest? It... I... Ugh... Where am I?'

I was laying in a bed. My head was rested on a pillow and my body was covered with a blanket. Hay was used as a mattress.

Above me was something that looked like the ceiling of a cave.

I brought my right paw up to my head to wipe off the sweat from my forehead.

When my hand entered my vision, I noticed something strange. My usually blue hand was black and a silver spike was sticking out on it's backside.

'What the?!'

I quickly brought my body into a sitting position and pulled the blanket off me.

When I saw my body, I gasped.

Things had changed.

Something that looked like a black belt of fur was growing around the lower part of my belly now. My blue tail between my still black legs looked slightly longer than usual. A couple of bandages were wrapped around my feet and tail. My stomach and chest were covered with cream-colored fur and a spike was sticking out of my chest. My right arm was still covered with blue fur. A bandage was wrapped around the upper part. However, my hand was black and the simple bump from before had turned into a spike.

When I inspected my left arm, I noticed that it looked and felt strange somehow. It was completely black... Not a single spot of blue could be found on it. The fur on it looked like a huge burn mark that went up all the way to my shoulder.

A jolt of pain shot through my head when I looked at it closely.

_"I'm sorry... I... I never wanted to hurt you..."  
_

"Ngh!" It took a while before the pain faded.

'What the...? When did my arm get burned like that? Why is it... What?'

I shook my head and inspected my body further. It was already dawning on me what could have happened to my body.

I brought my paw up to my face.

My snout was longer... My teeth were different too as my incisors had noticable grown in size.

I moved my paw to the right side of my head. My aura sensor was still there, however, it was a little further to the back of my head than usual. I was able to feel another one right next to it.

The two sensors had become four.

"What the hell?" I said to myself.

A gasp escaped my mouth, when I heard my own voice.

My voice was different too. I sounded... Older...

It took my mind a while before it came to the final conclusion.

'I'm... I'm a Lucario... How?... Did I evolve? What the hell happened back the..'

My eyes widened and I remembered what happened at the main square of Treasure Town.

'Grovyle! I... What the hell happened?! Why am I still in this time?... I... What am I supposed to do now?... I... I need to find out where I am first... I can plan my next move afterwards.'

I looked around and found out that I was in a circular room that resembled the inside of a cave. Light was shining in from the entrance that was at the other side of the room. It was furnished with a couple of wooden shelves and cabinets. Next to my bed was a little log that functioned as a nightstand. A table with two chairs was placed to my left.

As I got up from my bed, I noticed that my whole body was bigger now.

It was strange to have about twice the height from before but... This somehow wasn't the first time I had seen the world from this point of view.

My legs were still a little shaky but without the confusion of my changed body, I felt fine.

Just when I wanted to turn towards the exit and head out of the cave, I noticed a silhouette in the opening.

A Lucario with a blue scarf around its neck entered the room and approached me.

On its shoulders were metal shoulder-plates that were attached to his body with leather bands that ran around its chest in a "x-pattern". A metal ring, that was connected to the bands, was put onto the fighting-type's chest-spike, further supporting his armor.

A leather belt with a couple of pouches was tied around its hip.

I tensed up a little when I noticed that a sword was connected to the right side of its belt. Its weapon looked a little strange... The hilt was much longer than it would've been with a normal sword.

"Hello, how do you feel?" The Pokemon's voice was male.

I hesitated a bit before I answered. "Uhm... I'm fine... Thank you..."

"I am Cobal, a royal knight of Alteal." he introduced himself. "What is your name?"

'Knight of Alteal? What the hell is going on here?'

"I'm... Uhm... Ri..." My new voice still startled me a bit.

"Nice to meet you, Ri. You might wonder what is going on and where you are... Well, don't worry. I'm going to explain everything to you... Do you want to take a seat?" the fighting-type asked, pointing at the table and chairs.

I nodded and hesitantly took place on one of them, careful not to sit onto my longer tail.

The Lucario followed me and sat down on the chair that was on the opposite side of mine.

"Alright, then... First of all, you are at my tribe near Crystal Cave." the Lucario explained.

'Crystal Cave... At least I know where I am now.'

"I would like to ask you a few questions before I go on... Are you okay with that?" he asked in a polite tone.

"Uhm... Okay." I replied, worrying a bit. I had no idea if he knew that I was the person that helped the timegear-thief.

"Thank you..." The Lucario closed his eyes for a moment. "I know that this is pretty rash but... Are you a human?"

I was startled by his question. At first I wanted to debate if lying to him would've been smart but he probably already knew if he brought it up straight away.

"Y-yes... How did you know?" I responded with a nervous voice.

"First of all, your aura is something I have never seen before... And secondly... Ehm... I will come to that later." he explained. "Now to my next question... Do you know where you come from?"

'Where I come from?'

"Uhm... The last place I have been was Treasure Town..." I answered.

"Yes, I already know... I meant before that..." the fighting-type clarified.

'He knows that I was in Treasure Town... Did he see what happened?... Okay... I should be careful... But what exactly does he mean with before that?... The human world?... Ugh...'

"I'm sorry... I have amnesia... I woke up in a forest a couple of weeks ago, with no memory what so ever..." I said with a sad look.

"Amnesia? I see..." The fighting-type folded his arms and muttered something under his breath. "Okay... About the thing that happened at the main square of Treasure Town... You are the Riolu that got thrown into the portal, right?"

'Wait... If he knows about the portal... That means he knows that I'm Grovyle's accomplice... Okay, now I have to be careful. But why would he ask something like this?... Maybe... Maybe he is talking about that I'm a Lucario now...'

"Have you seen what happened? I remember that the Sableye threw me in and that I came out on the other side. I blacked out shortly after that..." I explained.

"So you are the same person... Just wanted to make sure... Well... What I have seen was that you were still a Riolu when they threw you in... You went right through and a Lucario fell into the bushes behind the portal." Cobal replied.

"That means that you also know that I helped the timegear-thief then..." I said, tensing up a bit.

"Yes, I am aware of that... But that doesn't matter right now." he said with a calm voice before he placed his paws onto the table. "I have one last question for you..."

The fighting-type looked directly into my eyes. "Does the name, Spirit of Faith, sound familiar to you?"

"Spirit of Faith?" I repeated, searching my mind for any information about it.

A jolt of pain rushed through my head... The name sounded familiar but I wasn't able to say that was behind it.

I faced Cobal again. "It does... But... I have no idea why."

...

He folded his arms again.

"Okay... Well, let me explain it then. There is a certain legend in Alteal... It tells of a Lucario that showed up in a couple of events from the past. Catastrophes that threatened the balance of the world... Wars that almost caused the death of millions of Pokemon... This Pokemon always showed up out of nowhere and saved the world from those disasters. It is known as the Spirit of Faith."

"Uhm... Okay... But why are you telling me this?" I asked in a confused tone.

"Well, the Spirit of Faith is supposed to be a human-turned Lucario with a special mark... A charred, left arm." the Lucario said, pointing at my arm.

I rose it from underneath the table and inspected it again. "A charred left arm?"

'This is supposed to mark me as this Pokemon from this legend? What... How did I get this? Ugh... And why do I feel so strange when I look at it?'

"Yes... You fit perfectly into that description." Cobal replied.

'I... But how? Ugh... God damn amnesia... But... If what he says is true somehow... I would finally have a real identity...'

"Not only do you have the appearance of the Spirit, you also seem to be strong enough to actually have done those heroic deeds." Cobal continued.

"Strong enough?" I asked, putting my arm down again.

"Well... First of all, we have your Aura Garment." the Lucario explained.

"Yeah, I already know about that one... Supposedly took me a couple of months to learn." I replied.

"One and a half years." the Lucario said in a somewhat disappointed tone, pointing at his chest with his paw.

"You have it too?" I asked with a surprised look.

The fighting-type nodded and put his paw back on the table.

"Anyway... And those other things..." he said in a tone that almost sounded... Jealous. "Brute Breed, Aura Burst... And... Ehm..."

He stopped, when he noticed the confused look I was giving him.

"Your amnesia is really that bad, huh? Okay, then... Let me explain." he sighed. "You're not able to see aura, right?"

'Not able to see aura?' I remembered that Marowak told me something like that in his dojo.

"Yes..." I confirmed.

"There are two kinds of ways a Riolu or Lucario is able to use aura. First of all you have the physical way, where you control the aura that flows through your body. The second way is where you use it with your mind... Being able to sense a living beings life-force for example. When a Riolu is born, it has a certain tendency towards one of those 'paths'. A Brute Breed is somebody who has a natural talent to control the aura in and around his body. The amount of aura they can store is drastically increased and overall, their bodies are built for combat. However, this talent doesn't come without a price... The ability of such a Riolu to sense aura is poor... Almost absent." he explained.

"That would explain that..." I commented, fiddling around with my aura sensors.

The Lucario cleared his throat. "Now the other ability I mentioned was Aura Burst. Not many Pokemon from our species have this hidden ability... It gets inherited and only a couple of tribes and families are known to have it."

'Inherited? How am I supposed to inherit a secret ability from a Pokemon if I'm a human?'

The thought made me blink. It sounded familiar... As if I had asked myself that exact same question before. I shrugged it off and paid attention to Cobal's lecture again.

"Well, this ability works as an emergency aura-boost... You subconsciously store a huge amount of aura in your body... Separately from the aura that you use normally. That way it can be released when you're out of your natural supply or your body is under a lot of stress..." the fighting-type explained. "How it activates, is a mystery though... There seems to be a mental lock in the users mind, that keeps the ability from activating, should he not really need it."

"Oh, so that was the aura I used when I fought Wigglytuff!" I commented, thinking back to my fight with him.

"That's how you caught my attention in the first place. The whole tribe felt your Aura Burst..." he continued. "The chief sent me to investigate and well..."

"When I arrived at Crystal Cave, I was only able to see how a couple of Sableye carried two unconscious Pokemon to a metal cart." the Lucario carried on. "I followed the carriage they kept you in and observed the whole scene at the town... Your aura felt strange in general and somehow I knew that there was something special about you."

"And after the thing with the portal you got me out of there and carried me all the way back to your tribe." I continued with a questioning tone.

Cobal nodded again.

...

"So I'm supposed to be this... Spirit of Faith..." I said, folding my arms.

'It would make sense... Grovyle and Riley tried to safe the world from the planet's paralysis... And if this Spirit is supposed to appear whenever there is a catastrophe...'

"Well, I guess you are... I wonder how you ended up here out of all places... You mostly appeared on Alteal..." the Lucario wondered.

I gave him a confused look. "Uhm... I still don't get what this Alteal is really supposed to be."

"It's the biggest continent of our planet. I am a knight of the royal familiy that runs the capital city of that land."

"So how did you end up here at this tribe, if you are supposed to be a knight from another continent?"

"Oh, well... I'm here to visit my family... I was born here and decided to go on a journey to hone my combat-skills. I ended up in Alteal and... Ehm... I digress... I will tell you more about me later... Should you want me to."

"Uhm... Okay... And how is this Spirit of Faith supposed to show up? Maybe that explains how I ended up in all of this." I questioned.

"I'm not really sure... The legend doesn't tell exactly how you appear... Some Pokemon assume that the Spirit of Faith able to travel through time itself... Some say that you really are a ghost that forms a solid form whenever a great disaster threatens the world." the Lucario answered.

'Traveling through time... Or being a ghost? Ugh... If I could remember...'

Another question formed in my head. "Do you know anything about this Spirit as a person? A name for example?"

"I'm sorry, I already told you everything I know about the legend... And... I thought your name was Ri?" he asked in a confused tone.

A sad look appeared on my face. "That's a name my friends came up with... I have no idea what my real one is."

He gave me a look if concern. "Oh... Sad to hear that..."

My head sank towards the ground. 'Ugh... That means I still have no idea who I really am... I... I guess I'll have to stay who I am right now... Ri.'

"Anyway, how did the Spirit of Faith end up with a Pokemon that tried to steal the Time Gears?" Cobal asked with an expectant voice.

'Can I tell him the truth? Would he believe me?... Screw it. I'm done with lying.'

A deep sigh escaped my mouth before I answered. "This is going to be a long story..."

I then told him my whole story...

How I woke at Treeshroud Forest... My journey with Grovyle... The incident with Ditto at Limestone Cavern...

He mumbled something to himself when I came to the part where I fought it. "So it used that form, huh?"

I gave him a short confused look before I continued.

When I told him about Riley and Ozu, I felt a little guilty and depressed... He seemed to noticed and gave me a confused look while I continued by telling him about the Expediton.

The days I spent at the guild... The day when Dusknoir appeared... How I lied to my friends to keep myself hidden from Dusknoir... Underground Lake... And the recent events from Crystal Cave.

"... that's the last thing I remember before I woke up here." I finished.

The Lucario in front of me brought his paw up to his chin and looked like he debating about whether to believe me or not.

He let his hand sink down again and closed his eyes for a moment. "So what do you intend to do now?"

It took me a while to come up with an answer.

'I have to find out what happened to Grovyle and the Time Gears before I can come up with a proper plan. Maybe I should go back to Treasure Town and see if I can find something out... But... Did Dusknoir figure out that I am still in this time? Are they looking for me?... It wouldn't matter... They would look for a Riolu... Heh... And now that I'm a Lucario, I could go there without raising any suspicion.'

"Uhm... I will head back to Treasure Town and try to find out what happened after you brought me away from there." I finally announced.

"I see... Well, I'm afraid that I can't let you go right away. I need to talk about your story with the leaders of the tribe." The fighting-type got up from his chair. "Also, you still have some injuries... Why don't you stay here one day longer and learn a little more about your species? I will tell you about the leaders decision tomorrow. Are you okay with that?"

'He won't let me go yet?... Ugh... What if I would have to...'

I quickly pushed the thought away.

'I will just spend another day here and wait for his decision... Maybe they will help this Spirit of Faith I'm supposed to be...'

"Uhm... Learn more about my species?" I asked.

"Yes, I will introduce you to a friend of mine. She will show you around and tell you some things about the daily routines of our tribe." he answered.

'She?' I was a little curious to see another girl that was the same species as mine. A strange thought entered my mind. 'Maybe she can tell me what makes this body attractive... Wait... Why...' I shook my head and got up from my chair.

"Okay..." I said, following the Lucario towards the exit.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 22**

* * *

And there you have it!

With those little hints I was talking about, I meant that "Ri" is the protagonist of a completely different story!

She is the hero of the main project I'm planning!

But all of that is going to be revealed later... Once this twist in time is unraveled...


	23. A 'date' with the Smasher

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

I'm kind of surprised where the 'sub-plot' of this chapter has gone... You'll see what I mean...

* * *

**Chapter 23 - A 'date' with the Smasher**

* * *

The sunlight from outside blinded me as we walked out of the cave.

My eyes adjusted to the light and I was able to see something that looked like a small village. A lot of wooden shacks and cream-colored tents were built on a huge clearing, that was surrounded by trees and bushes.

Looking at the suns location, I could tell that it was probably short before noon.

Once we left the cave for good, I took a quick glance behind me. A rocky cliff was running to my left and right. I could see another couple of cave-entrances, scattered along the wall. It was about ten meters high and another set of of trees and bushes was growing on top of the structure.

I noticed a lot of Riolu and Lucario, looking at me with curious and confused faces, when I examined my surrounding further. A bit startled, I followed Cobal closely as he brought me to another Lucario, which was standing next to a tent, fiddling around with a couple of baskets.

"Excuse me!" Cobal called out to the Pokemon, getting its attention.

The Lucario took a quick glance at me, before it gave the fighting-type next to me a confused look. It had a pink piece of cloth tied around its hip like a belt, so I assumed that it was female.

"What's up, Cobal?" The voice was female, confirming my assumption.

"This is Ri, the girl I brought here yesterday evening. Could you spend the day with her until dinner? I really need to talk with the chief about some important matters and..."

She interrupted him with a happy smile. "Sure thing!"

Cobal thanked her and faced me again. "Alright then! The whole tribe is going to eat dinner together this evening. I will meet you there."

The knight said good-bye and headed towards the biggest building on the clearing. A big, cream-colored tent that was decorated with blue carpets on the outside.

I looked at the Lucario, I was supposed to spend the day with.

"Hi, there! I'm Sylee! Nice to meet you!" she greeted with a warm smile.

"I'm Ri..." I replied, looking at the other tribe-members, who were still looking at me with their curious looks.

"So you are the one that caused the tumult. That Aura Burst of yours really is something else! Everyone felt that huge amount of energy from Crystal Cave yesterday." the fighting-type exclaimed, keeping up her happy attitude.

I rubbed the back of my head. "I'm sorry if I caused any trouble. I wasn't really planning on using it. Uhm... I learned about the fact that I have it just a couple of minutes ago actually."

She seemed to be a little confused by my last statement. "Huh? Did your parents not know that it runs in your family?"

My head sank towards the ground. "Uhm... I have amnesia, so I don't really remember a lot about my past."

The Lucario was a little startled and put on an apologetic expression. "Sorry..."

"It's no problem. You didn't know." I replied, trying to cheer her up again.

"So you don't remember where you got that from either." she blurted out, staring at my left arm.

I didn't know why, but I felt a little offended when she mentioned my arm. I didn't like the staring... But not because it bothered me personally... I couldn't explain it... It was a really strange feeling...

"No, I have no idea where I got it from... Uhm, I woke up a couple of weeks ago as a Riolu, with no memory what so ever. When I woke I didn't even ha..." Sylee interrupted me.

She looked very surprised all of a sudden. "Wait! Does that mean you evolved?! Nobody has been able to, since a couple of months ago!"

The noise from her voice received us another couple of stares from the other Pokemon around us.

"Uhm..." I hesitated a bit before I answered. "I'm not really sure... I was still a Riolu before I woke up here at your tribe... It was quite shocking when I noticed the changes."

The Lucario's mouth was wide open. "What?"

"It's true. These are my first moments as a Lucario." I added, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason.

She was speechless for a moment before she shook her head and put on a happy smile again. "And?! How do you like it?"

"I'm still getting used to it... Uhm... Is it normal that I feel twice as heavy than before?" I asked.

"Of course it is! You got the steel-type from your evolution!" the fighting-type replied. "Your bones are harder than steel now and your skin has a thin layer of metal underneath it."

"Really?" I asked, pulling on the skin of my right arm.

She put her paw up to her chin. "Well, that's the easiest way to explain it. It's not really a metal... Just a layer of skin that is about as sturdy as steel."

"Oh, I still remember my the day I evolved like it was yesterday! I was eighteen back then and..." Sylee blinked and seemed to be a little embarrassed all of a sudden. "Err... Sorry for asking but... How old are you? You look very young for a Lucario..."

The question made me blink. The last time I asked myself that question, I answered it with fifteen. But now... The number sounded wrong all of a sudden.

"I think I'm... Seventeen." I answered. Seventeen sounded right somehow.

I shrugged the weird feeling off and awaited her response.

"Wow! To think that you already are a Lucario with seventeen! Most of us evolve when they are around twenty years old... This is very impressive!" she beamed.

'Ugh... I'm not even sure of that... I need to find out what happened at that portal. The portal to the future is the reason I turned into a Lucario... Hmm... If it lead to another time... Maybe it affected me somehow and made me older.'

I noticed that I had drifted off and quickly shot out the obvious response. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty now. Almost twenty-one!" The fighting-type put her arms behind her head, keeping up her smile.

"Uhm... So what are we going to do now? Cobal said that you would show me around the tribe." I put my paws on my hips and looked at the village again.

"Oh, I still have to bring those berries to our doctor. Would you help me with that?" the Lucario asked, getting my attention again.

Behind her were a couple baskets of berries. She was already picking two of them up from the ground. I grabbed the remaining two baskets and followed her through the village.

A little mumbling could be heard between the other members of the tribe.

"Is she the one Cobal brought here yesterday?"

"Mommy, why is her aura so weird?"

"I wonder where she came from."

"What happened to her arm?"

The Lucario in front of me stopped in front of one of the shacks.

"This is our infirmary!" she said, knocking onto the door with her foot.

A Riolu opened the door after a while and welcomed us inside.

The room had a couple of beds and closets for medical supplies in it.

"Hello, Nelik! Here are the Oran berries you wanted!" Sylee greeted as we walked into the room.

"Ah, thank you Sylee! Put them over there." It's voice sounded male. He seemed to be a little older than the other couple Riolu from outside. A small pair of glasses could be seen on his nose.

We followed his instruction and put the baskets onto a table at the right side of the room.

We faced the smaller fighting-type again.

"Hi, I'm Ri!" I greeted the Riolu with a smile.

"Nice to meet you... So you are the Aura Burst girl. I was quite shocked when Cobal brought you here. You were in a pretty bad shape." he replied.

"Oh, so you fixed me up again." I combined, looking at the bandage on my right upper arm.

"Yes, I did. Cuts, bruises, burns, signs of freezes and a big open wound on your right arm. How did you manage to get beat up like that?"

"First of all, thank you. Uhm... I had a little confrontation with a couple of frie... Uhm... Pokemom." I answered in a sad tone.

"I see... Now there is a question I would like to ask, if you don't mind." Nelik said, looking at my left arm.

"Okay." I replied, bracing myself to not being able to answer his question.

"Who treated your left arm? It has completely healed but the signs on your skin underneath that black fur, indicate that this was a burn so severe that the arm normally would have had to be amputated. I would really like to know which doctor was able to do a miracle like that." the doctor explained in a serious voice.

A little startled, I held my left arm with my right one. "R-really? Uhm... Sorry. I didn't have it before I woke up here... I have no idea where it came from."

The Riolu responded with a confused look. "What? How do you mean that?"

I let out a deep sigh, before I explained the mysterious situation I was in right now. Turning into a Lucario, having a charred arm all of a sudden. Leaving out the parts of the story that mentioned that I had something to do with the timegear-thief of course. The incident with the portal was an "accident". I also mentioned my amnesia and memory shreds to which he responded with an interested look for some reason.

"I see... Well, this is very mysterious indeed. I have no idea how a portal could cause an evolution like that." he responded, fixing the position of his glasses.

"And about the memory shreds... I assume that they occur whenever you hear a key-words or you are in a familiar situation, that remembers you about an event from your past. You might find a specific word or situation that clears up everything one day! Should my theory be correct!"

A smile appeared on my face. "Thank you."

'He's right... Maybe I will regain my memory someday.'

"Do you want to see the rest of the tribe?" Sylee asked, grabbing shoulder.

I nodded and we said good-bye Nelik.

We left the infirmary and stopped in front of the entrance.

"Hmm... What should I show you first?" my friend asked herself.

The Lucario began her tour and showed me the various facilities of her tribe. Whenever we walked next to some of the other tribe members, she introduced me to them. I had a little small-talk with some of the Riolu and Lucario. They mostly asked me questions about my strange aura or why my arm was black. I answered them honestly and received confused looks when they heard the word "human". Questions about my past got answered with the excuse that Cobal would tell the reason I was here later, at dinner.

Sylee, was really nice. She told me some more things about herself and gossiped about Cobal while we walked through the clearing.

The two of them were supposed to be childhood friends before he left on a journey to get stronger.

When she had shown me the whole village, she lead me away from the clearing. After we walked along a path that lead through the forest, we came across another big clearing.

It looked like a huge training field. A couple of dummies were placed on the left side of the clearing and three battlefields were drawn onto the ground on the right one. A lot of Riolu and Lucario were scattered around the field. Some of them were working out with exercises or training on the dummies, while other ones seemed to have sparring matches.

"This is our training ground! Care for a quick sparring match?" Sylee asked, giving me a confident look. "I know that you are injured and stuff but I wou..."

"Sure! Let's do it!" I interrupted her with a grin, already walking towards a free field.

This was a great opportunity to find out if my evolution has made me stronger. I also didn't like to retreat from a challenge anyway.

The other Pokemon were giving me confused looks. I just kept up my grin and took place at one side of the field.

A group of curious fighting-types had formed on the side of the field when Sylee walked up to her spot. I could hear a little mumbling from the crowd, similar to that from the other tribe-members. However, I heard "Aura Garment" and "Brute Breed" a couple of times. I assumed that they were able to sense those aura-related things... They seemed to be interested in my special abilities.

"Just hand-to-hand combat or do you want to use moves too?" my opponent asked, warming herself up.

I had to debate about it for a moment, while I warmed up myself.

'I will start with a normal sparring before I test out my moves... I have no idea how much stronger they are, now that I'm a Lucario.'

"Hand-to hand combat!" I called over to her, getting into my battle stance.

"Alright then!" she returned, getting into her own stance, which was pretty similar to mine.

During our sparring, I tried out what my new body was capable of. I was a little surprised when I noticed that I was a lot faster than before. My punches and kicks felt stronger too.

Both of us clashed at each other with swift punches and kicks. Sylee seemed to struggle to keep up with me when I amped up the pace of my attacks. In her defense, she brought her arms up like a boxer.

It sounded like two metal bars that crashed together when my fist made contact with her lower arm.

The bones of a Lucario really were like steel.

My opponent tried to break through my assault, however, whenever she went for a counter, I simply dodged and continued my barrage of attacks.

When I managed to push her back to the edge of the battlefield, I quickly put my arm through her defense and touched her chest. I then pushed her out of the field by putting some weight against her body.

She landed on her backside, letting out a yelp of pain when her tail got squeezed between her and the ground.

The crowd cheered in response to my victory.

I walked up to her and offered her my paw. She thankfully grabbed it and I lifted her up.

"You are really fast." she complimented me, nursing her tail.

"Thanks." I replied with a warm smile.

A group of Lucario were walking up to us. I didn't know why but I was able to tell that all of them were male.

"You're pretty good! Would you have a match with me too?" one of them asked me.

"Yeah, I want to have one too!" another one exclaimed.

"Me too!" All of them were looking at me in a really strange way. I didn't quite know what it was but it made me feel a little uneasy.

Becoming a little nervous, I took a step away from them, closer to Sylee.

"Uhm... Why are they looking at me like that?" I whispered.

The Lucario had an annoyed look on her face all of a sudden. "Well, you obviously impressed those guys... I guess they are interested in you."

"Interested like in..." I turned a little red.

"Hey, you're really strong. I would be interested too!" she answered with a chuckle.

I still felt a little uneasy but decided to accept everyone's challenge. I beat them pretty easily and answered some questions about myself in between the matches. The 'being interested in me' part was right as some of them were trying to flirt with me. Well, at least I assumed that they did. I put down every single one of them, to which Sylee responded with a happy smile.

After my last challenger was defeated, Sylee and I walked to the edge of the training ground and sat down onto the ground. We watched the other Pokemon train for a while and chatted about various things.

There were no others in listening range so I decided to ask her a question I was asking myself since a very long time.

"Hey... Uhm... Sylee." I whispered, getting her attention.

She faced me and gave me a smile. "What's up?"

My face turned red and I fiddled around with my paws.

"Well, you know that I'm a human and... Uhm... Can you tell me what makes a Pokemon attractive?" I asked in a very embarrassed tone.

The Lucario blinked and seemed to be confused for a moment before she put on a smile again. "Well, in the case of a Lucario... I would say that your hips and backside are the most popular beauty signs."

"Hips and backside..." I muttered to myself. 'Is it similar to humans? Ugh... I can't even remember properly...'

A blush crept onto my face when I remembered how Grovyle checked me out before the incident at Limestone Cavern.

"And in your case, I would say that you are pretty well equipped." she complimented, making me blush even more.

"Uhm... Thanks..." My mind automatically made me lean back to look at her 'features'.

...

"Do you like what you're seeing?" Sylee asked, when she noticed, giving me a teasing grin.

I jumped a bit and rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry."

I remembered my fight with the Pancham from my first mission all of a sudden.

"Are you really sure that I'm like... Ehm... I had a fight with a Pancham that called me a tomboy..." I said, letting out a little growl after the 't-word'.

She seemed to dislike that word too.

"Well, it's completely different for each species. I mean what they prefer. Pancham and Pangoro like girls with a little more mass... I think. And you're not really the definition of fat, are you?" she explained, looking at my belly. "I guess, thin Pancham girls are seen as unattractive in the eyes of a Pancham boy... He probably compared you to one of them..."

"But he liked a friend that was with me..." My tone got a little sad. "She's a Pikachu and not the definition of fat either."

"It's just like I said before, you never know what other kinds of Pokemon like and what not." the Lucario replied. "It's mostly a question of personality, if different species go out with each other."

"Oh, okay..." For some reason I remembered Grovyle yet again.

'Does that mean that he liked...'

I shook my head and pushed those thoughts away. I had to make sure that he was okay before I could occupy my mind with things like that.

...

We kept on watching the others train for a while until I decided to test out the power of my moves.

The two of us made our way to one of the dummies.

"What moves do you have?" Sylee asked, creating some distance between her and the dummy.

"Bone Rush, Extremespeed, Aerial Ace, Force Palm and... Uhm... Attract." I answered, turning red yet again.

"Mind to show me the last one first?" she asked, laughing at me teasingly.

"Err... Maybe later." Shrugging off her awkward comment, I faced the dummy in front of me.

I put my paws together in front of me, concentrating my aura into them. After I pulled my hands outwards and created the silver shining bone between them, I noticed something strange.

It was radiating with blue aura. I had used the same effort I put into it as I had used as a Riolu, automatically overcharging the weapon in my hand.

Sylee was giving me a surprised look.

I responded with a nervous grin. "Sorry, still getting used to the whole Lucario-thing."

After I had balanced out the aura of my bone, I broke it in half, creating a baton in each of my paws.

I spun them around a bit, before I got into my basic battle stance.

Sylee gave me a little applause in response.

My eyes focused on the dummy in front of me, while I concentrated on Extremespeed.

A lot of dust stirred up around me, before I dashed behind the wooden puppet. In the blink of an eye, I was in position, ready to throw my bone at the back of the dummy's head.

The force of my blow was much stronger than I expected it to be, as the head got ripped right off the puppet with a loud cracking sound. I landed on my feet with a shocked expression, while the head was flying across the field.

I looked at the destroyed dummy with wide open eyes.

'Holy shit... I... I wasn't even using my full strength... God dammit, I really have to be careful not to overdo it. I'm a lot stronger than a Riolu now... I really need to work on my self-control...'

I grit my teeth. '... I could really hurt somebody, if I don't.'

"W-wow!" Sylee exclaimed, pulling me out of my thoughts.

The other Pokemon on the training field were giving me surprised looks.

Letting my bones disappear, I walked over to her. "Sorry! I didn't intend to do that either. Should I try to repair it or...?"

I got interrupted when the whole training ground began to cheer happily. The Riolu and Lucario ran up to me and lifted me up into the air. "Whoa, hey! What is going on?!"

The Pokemon cheered as they carried me towards the path that lead back to the village. They called out the word "Smasher" in a rythmic chant.

Sylee was one of the Pokemon that held me up into the air. The spot she chose to hold me up was a little questioning... "Smasher! Smasher!"

"What is going on?!" My question drowned under the chanting.

They carried me all the way back to the village. The sun was already about to set when we arrived.

As the sound from their cheers reached the ears of the other tribe-members, all of them joined the crowd. Pokemon rushed out of their tents and shacks, running up to us and joining into the chant.

When we reached the biggest tent, two Lucario stepped out of it.

I recognized Cobal, who was standing next to a Lucario which looked a lot older than the rest of the tribe. Its back was bent down a little and it had a walking stick in its right paw.

The chanting stopped, when the older Pokemon approached the crowd.

They let me down and cleared the path between me and the old One. I assumed that this Pokemon was the chief lf the tribe.

"Oh, it's the new one. Tell me, what is your name? Cobal hasn't mention it yet." It's voice sounded male. He had that typical 'grandpa-tone' in it.

"I'm Ri." I answered, feeling somewhat embarrassed by all the stares the others were giving me. "Uhm... Could you tell me what this whole Smasher thing is about?"

"According to the chants of our tribe members, I can assume that you managed to break one of the dummies on the training field. Well, there is an old tradition in our tribe, that says that we have to hold a feast whenever somebody manages to break one of the crystal-wood dummies." the chief explained with a smile.

"Crystal-wood?" I asked with a confused look.

"As you might know, Crystal Cave isn't very far away from our village. The wood from the trees that grow around it, is probably the sturdiest wood you will find on this continent. Strength has a great value in our community so the people who are strong enough to break them with sheer force, get the title of Smasher." he continued.

"Uhm... Okay..." I didn't quite know if I should ask more question so I just decided to go with this 'title', I unintentionally got awarded with.

The Lucario rose his voice. "Alright, everyone! Let's get to the dinning tent and prepare the Smasher-feast!"

The tribe lead me into the big tent, raising their voices again.

We entered the structure and a row of tables, that was ordered in an 'u-formation', was placed in the middle of the room. A lot of stools and chairs were placed next to them.

Cobal walked up to me and lead me to one of the chairs at the bottom of the 'u'.

"You've gotten yourself quite the reputation in only a couple of hours." he said while he pointed at the chair I was supposed to sit on.

The knight sat down at the chair to my left, right next to the older Lucario.

To my right was Sylee, giving me a warm smile. "Oh, you're going to love the food!"

Just when she said that, my stomach grumbled.

I turned a little red. "I hope so!" I said, rubbing the back of my head.

The rest of the tribe had taken place too and a group of Lucario left the tent. I assumed that they were the one's who were supposed to bring the food.

I faced Cobal again. "And? Did you talk with your leader?"

"Yes, I have. However, I will still wait until tomorrow to tell you about our decision. There are still some other things I have to discuss with the chief." he answered in a serious voice.

"Anyway, there is something else I wanted to ask you. Do you want to spend the night at my home? You know, the cave you woke up in? I will make a second bed for you if..." The fighting-type got interrupted by the Lucario to my right.

"She can spend the night with...ehm...at my tent! I already have two built up beds!" Sylee almost yelled.

"Oh, so you two have become friends very quickly..." Cobal responded with a surprised voice.

"I guess so." I replied, giving my friend a brief smile.

The Lucario was giving me a confused look all of a sudden. "Are you really okay with that? Ehm... You know tha..."

"Hey! She offered it, so I won't reject her!" I interrupted him with a smile.

"Ah, I see... If that's how you want it..." I was a little confused by the way he said that. As if he was alluding to something... Though I had no idea to what...

Looking at Sylee again, revealed that she was beaming at me with a happy smile.

After a while of small talk, the group of Lucario brought in a lot of baskets and plates which were full with berries and apples. Once they had supplied everyone with their food, they walked back to their own seats and sat down.

"Alright, everyone! Today we have an extra big meal, thanks to Ri here!" the chief announced, getting up from his chair. The whole room gave me a short applause, to which I turned a little red.

"Now you might wonder, what this new Pokemon is doing here at our tribe. As most of you know, there was a huge amount of aura released at Crystal Cave! Well, she was the source of that event!" he continued. "Now there is something special, my son would like to announce!"

The chief sat down again and Cobal got up from his chair, to which I was a little surprised.

'He is the leader's son?'

"Thank you, father!" He cleared his throat. "Most of you should already know the stories from Alteal I told you about. That means that some of you might know what I am talking about when they look at this Lucario here."

He pointed his paw towards me and continued. "There is a certain legend about a human-turned Lucario with a charred left arm. It tells of a Pokemon, strong enough to prevent catastrophes and wars... This Pokemon here fits perfectly into that description!"

Putting his arm down again, it looked like as if he was using the brief silence for a dramatic effect.

I responded by sweatdropping. 'Ugh... Just tell them already.'

"This Pokemon here, is the Spirit of Faith!" he finally finished.

The other Pokemon were looking at me with curious and surprised looks.

"She has lost her memory, so she is sadly not able to tell us anything about her past... Ri will stay with us until tomorrow. In the morning, we will announce the reason behind her presence and whether we are going to assist her on her mission or not!" Cobal continued.

'Are they going to help me? Ugh... What if they think that I'm trying to stop time with my actions?'

I pushed those thoughts away. The question would be answered tomorrow... This feast was a great opportunity to calm my mind down and relax for once in a while.

"Okay, now that all of that is out of the way... Let the feast begin!" he shouted, sitting down again.

In a matter of second, I had about ten apples on my plate.

Sylee poked my shoulder. "Are you sure that you want to eat that much?"

I responded with a grin. "Yup."

The ten fruits disappeared in no time, which resulted in surprised looks from the other Pokemon in the room.

Another ten apples wandered onto my plate. I wasn't even getting started yet. Turning into a Lucario seemed to have increased my 'eating abilities' too.

After twenty apples and a couple of berries, I was was feeling somewhat saturated. My belly wasn't even blown up.

"Where does it all go?" Sylee asked with a shocked expression.

"I have no idea!" I chuckled in response. "Maybe into my hips and my backside?"

She had to laugh to that. "Haha, that would explain a lot!"

The Pokemon around me were giving us weird looks and mumbled something to each other, when they overheard our conversation.

I turned red a bit but quickly got distracted by Cobal, who was patting me on the shoulder.

"I will see you tomorrow. Just meet me in front of the dinning tent in the morning." he said, getting up from his chair. "Good night."

"Good night." Sylee and I returned in union.

The knight and his father walked out of the tent. I assumed that they would talk about the other things, Cobal had mentioned before.

The tent was still full with Riolu and Lucario, which were chatting, eating, singing and all in all, just seemed to have a good time.

I felt somebody poke my right shoulder.

"Do you want to go outside? I think it's a little too noisy in here." Sylee asked with an expectant look on her face.

"Oh, okay." I got up from my chair and followed her out of the 'room'. The other Lucario were calling out their 'Smasher-chants' again when they noticed. Some of them were giving us confused looks for some reason.

It was nighttime and the moon was already hanging in the sky when we stepped out of the tent.

My friend lead me to the tent at which I had first seen her in the morning. "That's my tent. We could head inside right away, but there is something I would like to show you first."

"Oh, okay." I nodded and followed her to the cliff that was at the other side of the village.

We walked along the stone wall for a while until we came across a ladder that lead on top of the cliff.

The Lucario insisted on me climbing up first for some reason.

At the top, she took the lead again and brought me to a clearing near the edge of the cliff.

She sat down on the ground, indicating me to do the same.

"So, what do you want to show me?" I asked, leaning my body onto my arm which were placed on the ground behind me.

The Pokemon simply pointed her paw towards the moon.

The sight was really beautiful. Being able to watch over the village and the forest behind it. How the moonlight lit up the whole scene.

"It's beatiful." I said with an amazed voice.

"Yeah, I always come here when I feel alone or sad. The view just makes me forget about all the things that bother me... It's really something." Sylee responded with a voice that had a slight tone of nostalgia in it.

We kept on staring at this beautiful scene until I decided to look at her again. "So what now? Head back to the others or..."

The Lucario had a strange look in her eyes all of a sudden.

"I've got a better idea..." she said, touching my left paw with her right one.

I responed with a confused look until...

**Soundeffect: Shattering glass**

_"I would be interested too."_

_"And in your case, I would say that you're pretty well equipped."_

_"Do you like, what you're seeing?"_

_"Mind to show me that last one first?"_

_"Are you really okay with that? Ehm... You know tha..."_

'Oh...my...god.' My cheeks began to turn into a deep crimson.

"Whow, whow, whow! Wait!" I almost yelled, pulling my paw back. "You're into girls?!"

A face of pure shock crept onto her face. "Y-you're not?!"

"N-NO! How would you even...?" I wasn't sure how to respond to this awkward situation.

"I-I'm sorry! The way you rejected the boys at the training ground... I... I thought I had given you enough signs! You didn't seem to mind my comments, so I assumed that... Oh, dear Arceus! I'm so sorry!" She was equally startled by the situation.

'Oh my god! Did she just try to go for a kiss? How would this even...?"

A jolt of pain rushed through my head all of a sudden. Another memory.

_The image of a village entered my vision. A couple of Pokemon which I didn't recognize were around me. In front of me was a Buneary, looking at me with a devilish smirk. It had a pink ribbon around its ear, so I could tell that it was female. For some reason, my body wasn't able to move. The normal-type slowly stepped closer to me._

_"...o...watch...t...she...drain...ss!" A muffled voice called out from behind me._

_The Buneary reached me and brought her face directly in front of mine before she pressed her lips against mine..._

The vision ended and a blush crept onto my face when I found myself back in reality.

'What... the fuck?... I... Did that girl...?'

"Ri?" Sylee asked in a worried tone. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh! Y-yeah... I'm alright. Just a little headache." I said, facing her again.

'Oh my god, this is weird.'

"Are you mad at me?" the Lucario asked with a sad voice.

"No, I'm not mad... Just surprised." I answered, already trying to forget the whole situation.

"Again, I'm really sorry. It's just... I'm the only girl here that... You know... Ugh... Is it okay if we just forget about that?" she explained, breaking eye-contact.

"Hey, it's okay... Should we go back to your tent?" I asked, getting up from the floor.

"Are you sure that you wan..." She couldn't speak any further as I interrupted her.

"Of course, I am! Hey, I won't let this awkward little moment get between our friendship."

Her sad look somewhat faded and something that looked like a smile crept onto her face.

* * *

We made our way back to her tent. On the way, I still had those weird thoughts in my head. However, I was getting tired, what luckily distracted me a bit.

She opened up the tent and welcomed me in when we reached it.

It was a lot smaller than the one we ate in. Two hay-beds were on the ground and the room was furnished with a couple of closets, a table, two chairs and a couple of bowls and pots.

"This one is yours." Sylee said, pointing at the one that was closer to te entrance.

I immediately let myself fall on it and let out a yawn.

The Lucario went over to her own bed and dropped onto it as well.

An awkward silence was hanging in the air as nobody of us really knew what to say.

"Do want to talk about some other stuff or should we just get some sleep?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Sylee didn't respond. She either was already asleep or simply didn't want to talk anymore.

I let out deep sigh before I brought myself into a comfortable sleeping position.

My thought shifted over Grovyle, Riley, Ozu, the guild, that I am supposed to be some kind of spirit, the decision, Cobal was talking about and this weird memory I had after the awkward situation with Sylee.

After a while of speculating, theorizing and hoping, I finally managed to fall asleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 23**


	24. Two Knights

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 24 - Two Knights**

* * *

"Hey, wake up!" A voice said, waking me from my sleep.

I got greeted with the face of a Lucario when I opened my eyes.

"Huh, what?" My mind wasn't able to process anything properly. Still half asleep I lifted myself into a sitting position and rubbed my eyes groggily.

"It's morning." Sylee explained, opening the entrance of her tent to let some light in.

"Oh, right... I'm supposed to meet up with Cobal..." I slowly got onto my feet and stretched myself to get the last bits of sleep out of my body.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked with a faint smile on her face.

I guessed that the awkward situation from yesterday still bugged her. When I thought about it again, it began to worry me aswell.

"It was alright."

We stepped out of her home and got greeted with the curious looks of a couple of other tribe-members. They were mumbling with each other... I could hear a chuckle from two Lucario girls.

'Oh no... Do they think that we...? How would this even...'

I shook my head and pushed the thought away.

'What the hell am I thinking?!'

A little crowd had formed in front of the dinning tent, when we arrived there.

Cobal was already waiting for me as the Pokemon cleared the path for me to walk up to him. Sylee took place in the crowd and I approached the knight.

"Morning." I greeted.

"Good morning." he returned.

The chief of the tribe came out of the tent and walked next to me and Cobal.

"Ah, Ri..." The old Pokemon faced his son. "Are you ready, Cobal?"

The Lucario nodded and took one step towards the crowd. "Alright, everyone! Ri will now announce the reason behind her presence!"

I jumped to that statement. "W-what?"

He faced me and gave me a serious look. "You are the Spirit of Faith. Tell them what you told me yesterday."

"B-but wouldn't it be better if you explained it to them? I mean... They know you and..."

Cobal interrupted me. "I know... But I want you to tell them your story."

I had to debate about it for a while before I let out a deep sigh and faced the crowd.

"Hello, everyone." I began, getting everyone's attention. "As Cobal mentioned yesterday, the Spirit of Faith only appears whenever the world is threatened by a great catastrophe... And... Today it's the same reason... We have another disaster happening right now!"

The crowd responded with worried looks.

"This land is connected to a sacred place called Temporal Tower. This tower is keeping time intact and is the home of the legendary Pokemon Dialga... Now... Should this tower be destroyed, then time around the whole planet will stop and the world will be plunged into an everlasting darkness... Now... The reason I am here, is because the structure is falling apart as we speak!"

The worried looks got joined by a couple of shocked ones.

"But there is a way to stop this crisis! Should somebody be able to collect all the five Time Gears and bring them to the tower, it can be repaired!"

A lot of mumbling could be heard among the crowd.

"Are you crazy?! You can't take a Time Gear from it's place!" one Lucario called out.

"Hasn't there been a thief that tried to steal them?" A Riolu yelled.

"How do you know that?! I thought you had lost your memory." another one asked.

Closing my eyes, I debated whether to tell them about Grovyle or not.

"I know that some of you might be scared that taking a Time Gear from it's place will mane time stop in the area around it! But believe me , it's only temporary! Once the Time Gears are brought to Temporal Tower, everything will turn normal again."

I made a short pause before I continued.

"Now from where I know all of this? Well, one of you has already mentioned that there is a thief that tried to steal the gears. The truth is... He's not a thief at all! He is a Pokemon from that dark future and tries to prevent this whole crisis!... When I met him, he told me the whole story..."

"And I believe him!" I announced with a determined look.

A little tumult formed in the crowd. Some of the fighting-type's were arguing whether to believe me or simply lock this insane Pokemon in front of them away.

Sylee just had a surprised expression on her face and stayed out of the argument behind her.

"Calm down, everyone!" Cobal raised his voice, getting everyone's attention again.

"My father and I have discussed about the risks that could come with believing her story... But we also talked about the risks that could come if we don't listen to her! If what she says is true, the whole world is in danger right know. I, as a knight of Alteal, can not ignore such a threat!"

The crowd was still mumbling, however, most of them were asking themselves what the chief's son would do next.

"This is why I have decided to join this Pokemon on her mission!" the Lucario announced in a serious voice.

"W-what?" I was completely surprised by his decision.

'He... He's going to help me!'

"The Spirit of Faith has saved the kingdom of Alteal a couple of times in the past. Now is the time to repay this Pokemon for her deeds! It is my duty as knight to help this legendary hero!"

'Legendary hero... Ugh...'

I wasn't really able to see myself as something like that. My accomplishments so far were to lie to my friends, hurt my friends and to put Grovyle into Dusknoir's hands.

'Yeah... A hero...'

The audience was completely silent after he finished his speech.

...

Cobal approached me and held his right paw out to me. "Are you okay with that?"

'Am I? I wouldn't have to travel alone if he's with me. He seems pretty strong... That means that he would be a great help, should I run into trouble... Also... He knows a lot about Alteal, the place where I'm supposed to have appeared at some points in the past... Maybe I will remember some things about my past, if he tells me something about that land... Alright. There is nothing that speaks against it.'

I grabbed his paw and gave him a smile. "Thank you."

The other Pokemon seemed to be a little worried about his decision. Sylee was just giving us a surprised look while we shook hands.

"Alright! We will prepare ourselves for the journey now. I will say good-bye right away, as we are will leave the village right after we are done!" Cobal said, letting go of my hand.

A lot of mumbling could be heard from the crowd again.

Sylee walked up to me and gave me a faint smile. "I guess it's time to say good-bye then... I... I'm still sorry for yesterday. It could've gone better if I told you right away, huh?"

"Hey, it's no problem... Maybe we will meet again after all of this is over." I replied, returning her smile.

"Yeah, maybe..." The Lucario joined the other Pokemon, which were slowly returning to their daily routines. And then... She was gone.

I faced the knight next to me again. He was giving me a somewhat confused look.

'Wait... That strange comment yesterday... Does he...? He thinks that I'm into girls! Ugh...'

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked Cobal with a slightly angry tone.

The Lucario jumped a bit. "T-tell you what? That she's..."

"Yes... Because I'm not." I clarified, anger still noticable in my tone. "That awkward moment we had when I realized wasn't very pleasant, you know?"

"I'm sorry... I thought she would tell you on her own. Ehm... Again, I'm really sorry." he apologized in an embarrassed tone.

I let out a deep sigh. "It's okay... Anyway... What kind of preparation did you mean?"

The chief opened the door to the dinning tent.

"Come, we will show you." Cobal said, following the old Lucario into the tent.

I did as told and they lead me to one of the table in the room. A couple of items were placed on it. A belt with a couple of small pouches on it, a blue scarf, similar to the one Cobal was wearing and a set of shoulder plates.

"Do you want me to wear this?" I asked, walking up to the table.

"Yes. It's a part of your disguise." Cobal returned. "This Dusknoir has probably noticed that you're gone. I guess that the town is already looking for you. That's why I came up with a disguise for you to make our job easier." the knight explained.

"Why would I need a disguise? I'm a Lucario now! The town would look for a Riolu... Also, I have this healed burn mark on my arm, so there's no way they will think that I'm the same person." I replied.

"I know but... That way, we could say that we are two knights from Alteal who are investigating something about a certain Riolu with the Aura Burst ability. It would be plausible and our questions about the incident wouldn't raise any suspicion." The knight picked up the shoulder plates and handed them to me.

I hesitate a bit before I nodded in understanding and grabbed the armor.

It took me a while before I finally managed to put on the gear properly. Binding the leather bands around my chest in the 'x-pattern' was quite difficult.

After the armor, I took the scarf and tied it around my neck, letting the remaining cloth fall down behind me like a cape. Just like Cobal was wearing his scarf.

The last piece of equipment was the belt which I quickly attached to my hip.

I was rather satisfied with my new outfit. I looked exactly like the knight next to me.

Only differences were my left arm, the sword on his belt, and a couple of bandages which were still wrapped around my arm and legs.

"Can we visit Nelik one more time before we go? I think I don't really need those anymore." I said, fiddling around with the bandage on my right arm.

"Yes, of course. We still need to supply you with another piece of equipment anyway. It's back at my cave so we can make a quick stop at the infirmary before we head there." Cobal replied.

The Lucario faced the chief. "Father... I know that you are worried about my decision too but... It's my duty to help her. I can't run away from that, now that I swore my loyalty to the royal house."

The old Lucario had a look of understanding on his face. "I know... They are your second family."

The Pokemon let out a deep sigh. "I wish you two good luck."

"Thank you." me and Cobal returned in union.

The chief approached me and put his hand onto my shoulder. "I only trust you because my son does... This legend he told us about... Not many Pokemon from Treasure have heard it. Others might not believe you like we did."

'Not many Pokemon from Treasure have heard it? I can't just explain myself with the Spirit of Faith excuse then, huh?'

I let out a mental sigh. 'I will have to lie again... Dammit.'

"Understood." I nodded.

The knight next to me gave his father one last hug before we said good-bye and left te tent.

We made our way to the infirmary and I knocked onto the door three times. After a moment, a Riolu opened the door and welcomed us in.

"Ah, hello there. Ri, was it? What can I do for you?" Nelik asked as Cobal closed the door behind us.

"Well, I just wanted to know if I still need those bandages. I don't really feel any pain." I answered, pointing at the bandage on my arm.

"Oh, alright." The Riolu instructed me to sit down on a stool and carefully unwrapped all the bandages on my body.

"Done." he said, putting the last piece of cloth into a basket that was placed on one of his tables.

"Thank you." I replied, standing up again.

"Are you two heading out now?" the Riolu with the glasses asked as he walked back to me.

"Not quite yet. There's one little stop we need to make before we leave the village." Cobal answered.

"Oh, good-bye then. Maybe we will see each other again sometime." Nelik said with a smile.

My new partner and I said good-bye too and headed out of the shack.

Cobal lead me to his home and we entered the cave.

"So what is this last piece of equipment you were talking about?" I asked, following to one of the closets in the room.

The Pokemon opened it and pulled out a sword with with a golden hilt and a couple of golden decorations running up the middle of the blade. "This here is a copy of the Sword of Alteal. It was a gift from the king for defending the kingdom against a criminal organisation. I want you to wear it."

"Do I really have to wield a sword?" I said, folding my arms. I didn't like the idea of wearing a weapon like this.

"A sword is the basic equipment for every knight of Alteal. You don't actually have to use it. It's just a part of your disguise. Also, it's a copy, so it's not sharpened or anything." he answered.

"Okay... If it's just a fake..." I hesitantly grabbed the blade and put it through a leather holster on the left side of my belt.

We headed out of his home and made our way to the exit of the village, which was left behind the dinning tent. Some of the other tribe-members were looking at us while we left the village for good.

Cobal turned around one last time and waved good-bye to them.

* * *

And with that, we began our journey to Treasure Town. On the way, I mostly admired the landscape around me. Just like I usually did.

Cobal was similar to Grovyle... Not very talkative...

After about half an hour of silence, I tried to start a conversation. "So... Can you tell me a little more about Alteal?"

"Like about what? It's history?" he asked, turning his head to me.

"I don't know... Maybe how the kingdom looks like. I might remember something if I'm supposed to have been there before." I answered.

"Well, the capital city of the continent is called Alteal aswell. A castle is built in the middle of the city. That's where the royal family and most of us knights live. The whole city is split into four districts... You have the market-district with a huge market place. Then you have the residential-district where most of the population of the city live. Then there's the colosseum-district. A huge arena and a lot of facilities to train are built there. And last but not least, you have the district of the federation. It mostly holds facilities that manage the teams and missions all around the world." he explained.

It took me a while to process all the information in my head. The picture that had formed in my head was... not familiar at all.

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Doesn't ring a bell to me... Maybe some more things about those catastrophes I saved the kingdom from will bring up some memories."

The Lucario next to me brought his paw up to his chin. "Hmm... They aren't really explained in the legend... I think the last time you showed up was two hundred years ago."

"Two hundred years?" I questioned with a surprised look.

"Yes... Ehm... I think you prevented a war with one of the other continents back then. Alteal was in the possession of some kind of relic, which the other nation wanted to have, no matter the cost. I'm not entirely sure how though. There is some talk about a battle with the leader of that other nation." he continued, putting his paw down again.

I folded my arms. "Nope... Doesn't ring a bell either. Anything else you know about me?"

"Hmm... There is something about a volcano eruption and a battle with the legendary Pokemon Yveltal." the knight answered.

"Yveltal?" The name sounded familiar but no feeling that would have hinted towards a battle with it came up. "Uhm... Those things don't sound familiar either."

"I'm sorry... There aren't many other things I remember from the books about you... But in the story about the volcano... Another name is mentioned there..." he replied. "Something about a green redeemer."

"Green redeemer?" An idea of who he could have meant rose in my mind.

"Ngh!" Just when my mind tried to make a clear thought with the idea, a jolt of pain rushed through my head.

"Are you okay?" Cobal asked with a concerned voice.

"Yes... Just a headache." The pain had already faded again. Bringing up the idea from before was impossible. "Sorry... Nothing..."

"Ehm... Anyway, is there something else you would like me to tell you about?" the Lucario asked.

"Hmm... Maybe some things about yourself. You already know my story, so I'm really curious about yours." I replied.

"Well, I was born at the tribe twenty-seven years ago. I always admired to be the strongest Pokemon of the tribe. As the son of the chief this was only natural and well... I was the strongest Riolu of the tribe. I even managed to beat some of the older Lucario... Meaning that I was even stronger than them... But everything changed on the day I fought my father for the first time." he began to explain. "I got completely demolished and after the defeat I had a new goal to reach. I wanted to beat my dad... Not matter how hard I had to train."

"When I turned fifteen, I went on a journey to hone my combat-skills. After a two week sea-travel to Alteal, I fought my way through every town, challenging the strongest Pokemon they had. I managed to defeat every single one of them until I met one of the knights from the capital city. I got completely destroyed... Again. But this knight saw some potential in me and took me with him to the castle." he continued

"And that's how you became a knight?" I combined.

"Not exactly... I became a recruit and trained there for three years. Evolved in that time too. After the training I took an exam to determine if I was worthy to be a real knight... I failed... Miserably..."

"Huh? How did you become a knight then?" I questioned.

"Well, thanks to this little thing here, I got the title in a different way." the Lucario said, pulling out a necklace from under his scarf.

It was a thin chain-band that was attached to a blue gemstone. It looked like a marble somehow. Black and red colors were mixed into the gemstone, giving the stone a mysterious look.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's my Mega-Stone." Cobal responded, fiddling around with the stone.

"Mega-Stone?" I repeated, searching my mind for any information about... I strangely found some.

'Mega-Evolution... It's... It's the power to evolve to an even higher level of strength than a Pokemon normally would be able to.'

"Wait... Does that mean that you can mega-evolve?" I questioned with an expectant voice.

"Yes, I have aquired the necessary power to do so." the Lucario replied.

"C-can you show it to me?" I asked.

The knight nodded and we stopped. After creating some distance between us both, I watched him closely as he touched the stone that hung down from his neck.

...

He closed his eyes and began to radiate blue aura around him. A lot of dust began to stir up into the air around the Pokemon when all the energy flowed into the stone. Probably ten times the amount of aura that he had poured into the stone was now streaming out again, slowly surrounding the Lucario. A sphere of white energy had formed around him, completely occupying my vision on him. I felt even more energy radiate from him when the 'shell' around him slowly began to crack. With a loud cracking noise, the white aura around him busted into pieces and slowly faded into the air.

I gasped when I saw his new form. His hands and feet were red now and the aura sensors on the back of his head had grown much longer. A couple more spikes grew out of his body. The fur on his chest had grown over his tail and a lot of black markings were running over his arms and legs.

He was still wearing his armor and equipment.

"Y-youre..." I had seen this kind of Pokemon before. "I have fought somebody like you before!"

The Mega-Lucario opened his eyes. "The Ditto of Limestone Cavern was one of the Pokemon I challenged before my sea-travel to Alteal... I gave it a quick visit after I had returned to Treasure. It copied my Mega-Form after a little rematch."

"S-so when I fought it... I actually fought you?!"

"It's not quite like that... A Ditto that copies a Mega-Form only gains a small portion of the Mega-Evolutions power. I'm a lot stronger than the copied version of me. Speaking of the Ditto... Have you heard anything about it after you beat it?"

I had left out that part of my story.

Gritting my teeth, I answered his question. "He... He's in a coma. I read a letter from the federation that stated that a cut from a leaf cause his critical status. I... I'm sorry... I think Grovyle is the cause for his current situation."

The mega-evolved Pokemon gave me a worried look. "I... I'm sad to hear that."

...

An idea formed in my head. "Hey... Uhm... Cobal."

He responded with a confused face. "What is it?"

"Can you let me try it too?" I asked with a wide grin.

The Lucario chuckled.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way... You see, this is my Mega-Stone." he explained, emphasizing on the 'my'. "Every Pokemon that is able to mega-evolve has it's own special Mega-Stone that works specifically for them."

My expectant look turned into a disappointed one. "Oh... Okay."

"The reason why I became a knight was that I got my stone when I fought one of the leaders of the criminal organisation that terrorized Alteal at that time. At first he completely overpowered me but then I had the stone all of a sudden. After I mega-evolved, I easily beat him and put him behind metal bars." Cobal carried on. "I'm one of a couple of Pokemon in Alteal that are able to mega-evolve. That's the reason why the king decided to make me a knight."

"But how did you get the stone then?" I was a little confused that he didn't mention how he got it.

"I have no idea... I remembered how I had been beaten before at that moment. Suddenly I had the stone in my hand and well... I poured my energy into the stone and focused on the reason why I even fought the criminal. To get stronger. That was always my goal. Getting stronger than my dad, the knight that took me in, the criminal... Everyone. I fought to get stronger... It was as simple as that."

"That is a pretty good reason to fight." I commented.

The Lucario began to glow in a bright, white light and slowly turned back to his original form. "What is yours?"

"Mine?" I closed my arms and folded my arms.

'Why do I fight? Hmm... I want to get stronger too... But that's not my main reason... Hmm... To protect the people that are important to me?... No... I want to do that too but that's not the main reason either... Ugh...'

Cobal had already turned back to normal and walked up to me again.

"I don't know." I said, opening my eyes.

"Oh, okay... So... Should we return to our journey? I think that little break was long enough." he replied.

"Yeah, okay."

We continued our journey to Treasure Town. Our destination was probably another couple of hours away from us... We would reach our goal in the evening.

There was this awkward silence in the air again while we walked. I admired the landscape again and Cobal seemed to do the same.

After two little breaks to eat a snack, we finally arrived at the entrance of Treasure Town. The sun was already setting and the sky had turned into an orange color.

My partner stopped me before we entered. "Wait a second... We should go over our plan again."

"Oh, right." I responded with a nod.

"First we need to decide, where we head first. We could ask around in the town a bit or go straight to the guild and investigate there." Cobal said.

"Hmm... I really want to know what happened to the guild members... We should head there straight away and ask them about the day before yesterday." I replied.

"I... I also want to see how my friends are doing..." I added in a sad tone.

"Alright... Now the next thing we need is a new name for you. Try to come up with something before we head in there." the knight carried on.

I nodded. "I think I already have one..."

"Now here is the story we are going to tell them. We are two knights from Alteal that spent some time at their tribe when we noticed the Aura Burst from Crystal Cave. Let's just say that we believe that Ri the Riolu is a part of the royal family that went missing. That way we could just ask them everything without raising any suspicion. After all we would just be worried about our missing princess."

"Did you just call me a princess?" I teased with a grin.

"Of course, I did..." the Lucario frowned. "Anyway... The real name of the current Princess is Olivia. Just remember that, should they ask us about her. I will handle most of those kind of questions anyway."

"I hope she won't be mad at me for borrowing her identity." he added with a chuckle. "So... Are you ready?"

I nodded and we made our way to the familiar crossroad. Taking the path to the right, we walked up the staircase that lead to the guild.

The front gate was closed, so we had to go through the whole identification-grid procedure.

I gulped before I stepped over the hole in the ground.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" Diglett's voice shouted.

"WHO'S FOOTPRINT IS IT?" Loudred's voice responded.

"It's a Lucario!" Diglett answered.

"A LUCARIO? EHM... OKAY! I WILL OPEN THE GATE!" Just when he said it, the gate in front of us opened.

Giving Cobal one last worried look, I head into the tent in front of me and climbed down the ladder.

On the first floor, I saw Sunflora, Bidoof and Corphish, who were having a chat. The bandages from the day before yesterday were gone. They were giving me a confused look when I stepped down from the ladder.

I waited for Cobal to follow me down and began to climb to the second floor of the guild.

The main room was filled with a couple of Pokemon. Loudred was standing next to the 'sentry hole', Croagunk was fiddling around with his cauldron again, and Chimecho just came out of the infirmary.

They seemed to be okay. No bandages could be found on them.

Chatot stepped out of the guildmasters office and approached me. I baled my paw into a fist when I saw his left wing. I hadn't noticed it at the main square... It looked as if it was broken. The limb was covered in bandages and rested in an apron that was bound around his neck.

"Oh, good evening." the flying-type greeted.

Cobal had just reached the ground and walked to my side while Loudred and Chimecho came a bit closer to us.

"Uhm... Hello." I replied in a sad tone.

"My name is Chatot, I'm am the assistant of guildmaster Wigglytuff." Chatot introduced himself. "How can I be of service?"

"My name is Faith..." I responded. "And this Cobal. We are royal knights of Alteal and came here to ask you some questions about a certain Riolu."

His look turned angry as soon as I said the word 'Riolu'. "Do you mean the timegear-thief's accomplice?"

"Well, we felt a huge amount of aura, coming from Crystal Cave the day before yesterday. One of our tribe's scouts mentioned that the source of it was a Riolu that got captured and transported towards Treasure Town with a carriage." Cobal explained.

"Can you tell us what happened to this Pokemon?" I asked before the flying-type could respond.

"Well... Her name is Ri... She was a member of our guild and... When we found out that she worked with the thief, we confronted her at Crystal Cave... She managed to beat every single one of us and... Luckily the great Dusknoir still managed to capture her and the timegear-thief Grovyle. They got transported to the main square of this town. I woke up an hour before they arrived and already waited for them at the square with the other guild members." Chatot began to explain. "Dusknoir had set up a portal that lead to the future the thief came from. After they arrived, Dusknoir's men carried them to the portal and threw them through it."

"And then?" I asked with an expectant face.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 24**

* * *

Now who could that green redeemer be? ^^


	25. Accuses and Apples

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 25 - Accuses and Apples**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

* * *

There she was... The Riolu that used to be our team member... Our friend...

Dusknoir's men had just pulled her out of the carriage. Her hands were tied together behind her back and a muzzle was placed on her snout. A big open wound ran across the fighting-type's upper right arm and her whole body was covered in the cuts and bruises from our previous fight.

The crowd that had formed on the path that lead to the main square was occupying my vision when she dropped down from the prison-cart.

A huge tumult formed as the Pokemon around the criminal were throwing insults at her. I didn't even feel sorry for her. Ri had gotten herself into this situation by her own fault. The lies... Trusting the timegear-thief... All of it was her own decision.

The Sableye pulled out the next criminal. Grovyle.

The grass-type was tied up like the Riolu. He looked pretty messed up aswell. His body was littered with cuts and bruises and his face was red and swollen. The Sableye must've beaten him really good.

Two other Sableye grabbed him and began to drag him towards the square. He was taller than the Riolu so my view on him was not completely occupied.

I took a quick glance to my right. Ozu was standing next to me, giving me a sad look.

Right next to him were Chatot and the guildmaster, both covered in bandages from our fight with the former guild member.

Behind them was a blue portal that Dusknoir had set up. A portal to the future... The future I came from... The future where I was a criminal. I didn't even want to inspect it further. That part of my live was over for me.

Next to the passage was Dusknoir, having a faint smile on his face. The ghost-type gave me an ice-cold glance when he noticed my stare, making me jump a bit.

The quick movement sent a wave of pain through my bandage-covered stomach...

The Riolu had caused a couple of inner bleeding with her consequent Force Palm attacks. Luckily, Chimecho was the one that had woken up before everyone else and immediately treated everyone's wounds back at Crystal Cave.

The thought about Ri drew my attention back to the event that was happening in front of me.

Ri and the two dark-type's that dragged her had arrived the square. Her eyes widened when she noticed us. When her gaze was about to meet mine, she quickly let her head sink down to the ground.

'Hmpf... You don't even dare to look at me?'

I watched her closely as the Sableye had finally reached their designate spot, right in front of the portal.

When the other criminal was set up too, Dusknoir floated into the middle of the square and spoke up.

"I can proudly announce that we managed to capture the timegear-thief Grovyle and his accomplice!"

The crowd responded with mumbles and applause.

...

When the voice of the other Pokemon had calmed down again, he continued.

"We will bring them back to our time and give them their proper punishment, based on the heaviness of their crimes!"

The ghost-type them looked at the two Sableye who were holding Ri, indicating them to throw her into the portal.

The dark-type's did as told and waited for Dusknoir's final command, already holding the Riolu up by her arms. A loud whimper escaped the fighting-type's mouth... That wound on her must've caused her trouble.

"Do it." Dusknoir ordered.

Ri let out one last grunt before the Sableye pushed her into the portal. As she made contact with the passageway, her body began to shine in a bright green light.

Ri's feet were the last things I saw of her, before the portal had completely swallowed the fighting-type.

That was it... She was gone... This so called 'friend' got what she deserved. I had no idea what the Pokemon of the future would do to her. Lock her up? Kill her? Heck, I didn't even care about it...

Dusknoir looked at the other two Sableye. They immediately followed his order and dragged the grass-type they were holding to the portal.

"Go." Dusknoir ordered again.

Just like the criminal before him, he grunted when the dark-type's pushed him through the portal.

The crowd cheered in response... After all, the Pokemon that tried to destroy the world, had just been dealt with.

A faint smile appeared on my face.

'It's over... I can live my new live with Ozu now... Help him to fulfill his dream of becoming a real explorer... Maybe... Maybe I could even tell him...'

Dusknoir spoke up again, interrupting my thought. "Everyone! Please calm down! We still have another problem that has to be dealt with."

I felt a little uneasy when he said those words... 'Another problem? Does he...?'

Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away. He couldn't possibly have meant me... We had a deal.

The crowd calmed down again, waiting for the Dusknoir to explain the problem he just mentioned.

"I am sorry to say this but... The crisis, the thief has caused is not over yet."

'What?!'

The other Pokemon responded with confused and shocked looks.

"Only three Time Gears were in Grovyle's possession... The one from Treeshroud Forest is missing!... He or his accomplice must have hidden it somewhere!... But do not worry, we have our ways to get the information out of them." the ghost-type explained in a serious voice.

'They have their ways? Does that... Does that mean that they are going to torture them?!... Ri... Is that really something she deserves?... Ugh...'

Dusknoir looked at Policemaster Magnezone, who was floating on the opposite side of the crowd.

The electric-type 'nodded' when he noticed the ghost's stare and floated next to him.

"I put the task on you to bring the three Time Gears we already have, back to their original places and protect them with everything you have!" Dusknoir said in a serious voice. "Nobody must even get near them... I will send one of my men back to this time, once we got the information about the last Time Gear out of the thieves... After that you need to find the last gear and bring it back to Treeshroud Forest."

"BZZT! Understood! BZZT!" Magnezone replied.

"Once the Time Gears are back in their place, they are going to need some time to return everything to normal... I would say... About a month... Have your strongest Pokemon protect them during that time." Dusknoir finished.

"BZZT! I already have a couple of teams in mind. BZZT! Don't worry Dusknoir, nobody is going to get near the gears. BZZT!" the electric-type assured.

"Thank you, Policemaster."

Magnezone slowly floated back to his previous spot and the Sableye that had thrown Ri and Grovyle into the portal walked next to the ghost-type.

"Now before I say good-bye, there is one last thing I need to take care of." Dusknoir turned his head towards my direction.

"Riley, Ozu..." he said in a monotone voice. The noise from the crowd died down immediately and their eyes locked onto us.

I tensed up and looked at my partner who's wide open eyes were fixed on the ghost-type.

"W-what do you think he wants?" Ozu whispered with a worried voice.

"I don't know... Maybe he just wants to thank us for helping him with his plan." I replied, hesitantly starting to walk up to Dusknoir.

The Chimchar and I approached the ghost and his four men.

A circle of Pokemon was around us, as we were now standing right at the middle of the square.

...

"Restrain them." the ghost-type in front of said.

Just then, the dark-type's next to him melted into the ground and transformed into pitch black shadows.

Before me or Ozu could even react, the shadows had already dashed behind us. The Sableye shot out from the ground and grabbed onto our arms.

"What?! No!" I screamed, trying to free me from their grab.

I wanted to send a Thunderbolt through their bodies, however as soon as I tried to release the bolts from my cheek-pouches, I felt all of my energy leave my body.

A blue chain made of spiritual flames had formed around my chest in an 'x-pattern'. A lock could be seen on the spot they crossed. Imprison.

(Restricts the victim from using any move at all in the SoF-universe.)

The crowd around us inhaled out of shock. A tumult formed when the Pokemon yelled at Dusknoir, asking him what he was doing. Our fellow guild members were completely speechless by Dusknoirs action.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled at the ghost-type in front of me.

He had an emotionless expression on his face. It seemed as if he was waiting for the crowd to calm down again.

I looked at Ozu.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" he shouted, struggling against the two dark-type's who were holding him. They had used Imprison on him aswell. The Chimchar also had the blue chains around his chest.

"Calm down, please! There is a reason for this!" the ghost-type shouted, somewhat calming down the Pokemon around us.

"We had a deal!" I screamed at the top of my lungs with a voice that was filled with anger.

"I am aware of that... However, I can not risk to endanger the Pokemon of this time by leaving them with a possible time-bomb!" the ghost-type replied in a serious voice.

"I'm supposed to be a time-bomb?! What are you talking about?" I yelled.

He ignored me and turned to the other Pokemon. "Pokemon of Treasure Town! When Grovyle came back to this time, he had a partner with him! This Pikachu here is said partner!"

Another tumult rose up. The other guild members seemed as if they didn't quite know how to react... They already knew, who I used to be...

"I thought the Riolu was his accomplice!"

"Why would Riley have something to do with this?!"

"Explain yourself!"

Dusknoir rose his arms, indicating the other Pokemon to calm down again. "Please! Calm down! I'm going to explain everything to you! The Riou that we just arrested was not his original partner... The thief managed to persuade her to help her with his scheme. Even though we informed Ri about the consequences of her actions, she still insisted on helping Grovyle."

"Why do you want to arrest me then?!" I interrupted the ghost-type. "I helped you to capture them!"

Dusknoir faced me again. "What if you regain your memories and decide to finish the mission you started? Am I supposed to leave the Pokemon of this time with a danger like this?"

"I... I wouldn't do it! Even if I regained my memories, I would never consider to destroy the world! I have something to live for in this time!" I returned in a desperate voice.

"That's right! And even if she would want to finish her mission, I would try to stop her!" Ozu threw in.

"Like you tried to stop Ri?" Dusknoir's question sent a face of shock onto the Chimchar's face.

I was a little confused by Ozu's reaction.

"Just go! Go and warn your friend Grovyle!" the ghost-type continued. "Weren't that the words you tried to stop her with?"

My partner let his head sink to the ground, biting his lip.

"W-what?" I asked, trying to process what I had just heard.

"This act of sympathy towards the thief's accomplice has made you an accomplice yourself. If I hadn't been there in time, she would've warned the thief and they could have succeeded with their plan... I am sorry but your actions turned you into a threat to the Pokemon of this time." Dusknoir continued.

The other Pokemon around us were speechless.

The Chimchar rose his head again and looked into my eyes.

"Is... Is that true? Did you really want to let her go?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"I... I'm sorry... I couldn't do it. I couldn't fight her." he replied, letting his head sink down again.

"Why would he help them?" a Pokemon from the crowd asked.

"Ozu, out of all people!" another one added.

"I don't even care, just lock them away if it ends this crisis!" yet another Pokemon yelled.

Gritting my teeth, I focused my eyes on Dusknoir again. "So you never intended to let me go in the first place! You just used me!"

"I am sorry... But I did it for the well being of the Pokemon around you..." he replied. "Sableye... Take them away."

"Let go of me!" I screamed when the dark-type's who were holding me began to drag me towards the portal in front of us.

Ozu didn't even try to resist when the Sableye pushed him forward.

There was no use. When we reached the portal, the Sableye lifted me and my partner up on our arms and threw us into the passageway to the future.

Everything became white and began to spin when I touched it. My head started to hurt like hell and a dizzy feeling overcame me.

"Aaaah!" I screamed when a searing pain all over my body joined the dizziness.

...

The pain left as fast as it came and the spinning stopped. However, the next thing I was able to feel was my face making a rough contact with the ground. I grunted and immediately rolled to my side, grabbing my aching nose with my paws.

I could hear another grunt next to me.

Before I could even open my eyes, two hands grabbed onto my arms and lifted me up from the floor.

A blurry image of a group of Sableye entered my vision. Suddenly, I felt how a strange smelling piece of cloth was held against my mouth and nose. I inhaled the fumes and immediately noticed how the edges of my vision began to turn black.

'No... What are they...? Why can't I...?'

I tried to keep my eyes open and break free from the arms that were holding me. However shortly after they fell shut from the effect of the fumes, I lost consciousness.

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

"H-he took them to the future?" I asked with a shocked expression on my face.

"Yes..." Chatot replied, giving me a confused look when he noticed my reaction.

"Excuse me? Why are you so shocked about this? I thought you came here to get some information on the Riolu?" the flying-type in front of me asked with a confused look.

"I... I..." I cleared my throat and tried to focus again. "I'm sorry. Please, continue."

"Well... After they were gone, Dusknoir was just about to say good-bye to and leave our time. However, a Sableye suddenly jumped out of the portal and yelled that the Riolu was gone. The dark-type explained that the Riolu simply didn't arrive at the other end of the portal. Dusknoir became a bit furious to that and walked in and out of the portal a couple of times."

"Wait... Do you mean that Ri is missing right now?" Cobal threw in with a very well acted, worried voice.

"Yes... The great Dusknoir explained that she probably was sent to another time than the other prisoners or got stuck in the portal somehow. He stated to be very careful from now on. After that, he left." Chatot answered.

"So you have no idea where she could be." the knight next to me concluded.

"Ri could have been sent anywhere in the future. Even only a couple of days. That's why the federation has created a wanted-poster of her... We have one of them pinned onto the outlaw-board on the first floor, if you want to see it." the flying-type continued.

"Oh... What do you say, Faith? Should we take a look at this poster?" Cobal asked.

I nodded and Chatot walked up to the ladder that lead to the floor above us. Normally that flying-type would have been able to simply fly through the hole above him, however, now that his wing was broken, he had to climb up with his feet.

It took him a while and when Chatot finally reached his goal, Cobal and I quickly followed.

Chatot lead us to the bill-board and pointed at a wanted-poster, which was hanging in the middle of the board.

I approached the piece of paper and inspected 'my' poster.

A little sketch of a Riolu with slightly longer hair between its ears that fell onto its forehead was drawn onto the paper.

Underneath the drawing, I was able to read a couple of sentences.

_**Wanted: Ri the Riolu**_

_In the recent events at the main square of Treasure Town, this Riolu was able to escape from arrest somehow. She was one of the Pokemon that tried to destroy the world by stealing the Time Gears. If you have and clues on her location, inform Policemaster Magnezone immediately!_

_Should you find an opportunity to arrest the criminal yourself, do not hesitate to knock her out. _

_Beware thought: This Pokemon is extremely dangerous and managed to defeat the whole Wigglytuff guild, including Wigglytuff himself. This is why this Riolu is marked as a S-Rank outlaw._

_Reward for capturing this outlaw: 10000 Poke_

"10000 Poke?!" I blurted out with wide open eyes. Being a criminal wasn't something to be happy about but being worth that much money made a bit proud.

'S-Rank criminal... I guess that's the highest rank there is... Ugh... Should I be proud of this?... Being marked as such a strong Pokemon...'

"Can we take the poster with us? Just so we have a proper picture of her." Cobal asked, walking next to me.

"Oh... Well, of course!" Chatot replied, grabbing the poster with his healthy wing.

The flying-type blinked and let his eyes sway back and forth between it and my face when he held the poster out to me.

A bit of sweat was forming on my forehead.

"Thank you." I said, pulling the paper out of his hand.

Shaking his head, Chatot turned his attention to Sunflora, Bidoof and Corphish, who were just approaching us.

"Hello, there." they greeted.

"Hello." Cobal and I returned.

Bidoof took one step forward. He seemed to be very nervous for some reason. "A-are you two real knights?"

I let Cobal answer the question. "Yes, we are. How can we help you?"

"Oh boy... I... It's just that I have never seen a knight before... H-how is it like?" he asked.

"Well... It's a great honor to have a title like this. You mostly go on special mission for your king and train to protect your kingdom in times of danger." the Lucario next to me answered with a smile.

I simply nodded when Cobal finished his sentence.

"Bidoof... Please don't pester out guests like that..." Chatot said, drawing our attention towards him again. "Is there some other way I can help you with..."

"Uhm... No, that was it. You answered everything we wanted to know." I replied.

"CHATOT!" Wigglytuff's voice yelled from the ladder to our right.

Everyone jumped to the sudden uproar and turned to the source of the voice.

"We have guests and you don't even wake me up?!" Wigglytuff asked, approaching Cobal and me. His stomach was still covered in bandages.

"I am sorry, guildmaster... But you ordered me not to disturb you during your afternoon nap." The flying-type sighed.

"Hello, friends! Nice to meet you!" the fairy-type said, grabbing Cobal's hand and shaking it so fast that the image became blurry.

The Lucario responded with a nervous grin. "Nice to meet you too... I'm Cobal."

Wigglytuff let go of his and focused his eyes on his next goal... Me.

He grabbed my hand too. Unlike with my new partner, he went for a gentle handshake.

A strange grin appeared on his face when our eyes met.

"I-I'm Faith." I said with a nervous voice.

The fairy-type stopped to shake my hand, however, he let not go of it. "Nice to meet you, Faith... Hey! Can I ask you a quick questions?"

"Okay..." I was starting to feel uneasy.

"Do you like Perfect Apples?"

My eyes widened. For everyone else, this might just have sounded like one of Wigglytuff's random crazes but I knew exactly why he would ask a question like that. It was the same first question he had asked me when I first met him. And this silly grin he was giving me... Exactly the same.

'He knows...'

Wigglytuff let go of my paw, eagerly awaiting my answer.

'But why doesn't he tell the others? Because I managed to beat him? Ugh, I will never understand him...'

A smirk appeared on my face.

"Uhm... I like them?" I replied in the exact same tone, I had used the first time I answered that question.

The fairy-type giggled, understanding the message I was sending with my answer. I knew, that he knew...

The other guild members and Cobal were giving us confused looks.

"Great! Great! Great!" the pink Pokemon cheered in response. "Are you two going to eat dinner with us?"

"Ehm... Thank you for the offer but..." Cobal tried to say, but I interrupted him.

"Sure! We would love to eat dinner with you." I said with a smile.

"Hurray!" Wigglytuff threw his arms up into the air and turned around to head toward the ladder.

"Chimecho! Prepare dinner!" he yelled into the hole in the ground before he jumped onto the ladder.

"Ehm... Is your guildmaster always like that?" Cobal asked with a confused look on his face.

"I'm afraid so..." Chatot sighed, slowly following the fairy-type.

I chuckled and put the poster I was still holding in my hand into one of the pouches on my belt.

We followed Wigglytuff down to the main room and walked into the dinning hall.

I waited for the others to sit down, before I lead Cobal to the free seats that were left. The ones my friends and I always used to sit on.

On the opposite side of the table were Loudred, Suflora, Corphish, Diglett and Dugtrio.

To my left were Cobal, Bidoof and Croagunk.

Chimecho was preparing a couple of plates with apples and berries.

Chatot and Wigglytuff were sitting at the end of the table.

A lot of mumbles could be heard while Chimecho was setting up the table. After the psychic-type was finished, she floated over to her own seat and let Chatot begin with his usual speech.

"Alright, everyone! These two knights from Alteal will join us at dinner today... They came here to investigate some things about the Riolu that recently left our guild... Treat them with respect! It is a great honor to have guests like them! So... Without further ado... Enjoy your meals." he said, sitting down onto his chair again.

Out of habit, I immediately had ten apples on my plate, which resulted in confused looks from the other Pokemon.

Noticing my suspicious behavior, I began to eat them slowly... Unlike I usually did.

One look stood out though... Loudred... The normal-type eying me keenly while bit into my meal.

When I was finished with my fist fruit, he already had eaten three...

An urge to dig into my plate rose up in my stomach... Different from the hunger I had.

'Ugh... I can't act like I usually do... But... It's so tempting!'

Loudred was giving me a challenging smirk when I grabbed the second apple on my plate.

'Dammit.'

The temptation of his challenge was just to big. In a matter of second, the apple in my paw disappeared and the next one wandered into my other paw.

The normal-type jumped a bit when he grabbed for his fifth fruit. I had already caught up with him and was just about to go for my sixth one.

And then it began... Again. Our competition went like it usually did, however, the other guild members were giving me confused looks instead of cheering.

Loudred fell from his chair when he tried to reach out for eighteenth fruit. A wide grin crept onto my face. I had already consumed twenty-one of the red fruits.

"Oh my gosh! S-she beat him!" Sunflora exclaimed with a surprised look, grabbing the normal-type with her leaves

"Hey, hey, hey! Only Ri managed to do that before!" Corphish said, helping the grass-type to raise my opponent from the floor. "Who are you?"

Sweat was forming on my forehead and a nervous smile appeared on my face. My attention was focused on the Pokemon on the other side of the table. Because of that, I didn't quite notice the conversation, Cobal and Chatot were having.

"Uhm... I..." I stuttered, trying to come up with an answer.

"Oof... You remember me a lot about her." Loudred said, standing on his feet again. "You eat just like her!"

"Hey, hey! She even looks a bit like Ri, doesn't she?" the water-type next to him added.

'Dammit!'

"Oh my gosh! Are you..." Sunflora began to ask, inspecting me closely.

'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'

"...her sister or something like that? Is that why you are looking for her?"

I let out a mental sigh of relief, however, my nervous smile stayed as an reaction to her question.

'Did... Did Dusknoir not tell them that I'm a human?'

"Y-yes. I'm her older sister." I answered.

Just then we heard Cobal answer to one of Chatot's questions.

"We believe that Ri actually is Princess Olivia, who went missing a couple of months ago."

Sunflora, Corphish and Loudred had shocked looks on their faces all of a sudden. A similar look appeared on mine.

"OH MY GOSH!" Sunflora almost screamed.

The other Pokemon's attention was drawn to the end of the table we were sitting at.

"Y-you're a princess?" she asked with a wide open mouth.

More sweat formed on my head, as I turned to Cobal who was giving me a confused look.

Everyone's eyes were focused on me.

"Oh, boy! Is that why you are wearing such a fancy sword?" Bidoof asked.

"I... Uhm..." I had no idea what to say.

"I will explain this if you don't mind." Cobal said, clearing his throat. "This here is Princess Faith. She disguised herself as a knight to hide herself from enemies of our nation. The reason she is here is because she insisted on looking for her younger sister, Princess Olivia, who went missing a couple of months ago..."

The other Pokemon didn't know how to respond to this. As soon the Lucario confirmed that I 'was' a princess, everyone's eyes locked on me again. Wigglytuff only chuckled when I looked at him.

"It is of highest importance that you keep this to yourself... Same with the fact that we believe that Ri is Princess Olivia... Should any of our enemies learn about our princesses disappearance, our kingdom might fall into great danger. We need to find her before that happens..."

"I..." Chatot was the first one that tried to speak again.

"We are very thankful for your hospitality but I think that we should leave now." Cobal interrupted him, getting up from his chair.

The fighting-type then looked at me again, indicating me to do the same.

I got up and walked up to Cobal.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Wait a second! Do you two have a place to stay the night?" Wigglytuff jumped up all of a sudden. "It's already getting late and we would be honored to have such a noble guest stay with us a little longer."

Cobal seemed to tense up a bit... "We are grateful for you offer but..."

"We don't have a place to stay the night yet..." I interrupted him, poking him with my elbow. "We accept your offer!"

Thw Lucario next to me gave me yet another confused look. "Are you sure?"

"Of course!" I replied, giving Wigglytuff a grin. "I'm a little tired and don't really feel like looking for an inn."

"Hurray!" the fairy-type cheered. "Chatot! Bring them to their room!"

The flying-type responded with a worried expression. "B-but guildmaster... The only room that is free is..."

"I know!" Wigglytuff interrupted him. "Go, go, go!"

Chatot got up from his chair and we approached him. "Follow me, then."

We did as told and followed the flying-type out of the dinning hall.

When I turned around, I noticed that the other guild members were still staring at me with wide open eyes. Not a single one of them said a word. I assumed that didn't know how to handle the whole 'there's a princess at our guild-situation'.

Before we left the room for good, I turned towards Wigglytuff again. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff... Is it okay if I could talk with you in private before I head to our room?"

The fairy-type responded with a smile. "Of course, friend! Let's go to my office."

He came with us to the main room and stopped Chatot before he passed by his office. "Chatot, would you lead this noble knight to his room while the princess and I have our little talk?"

"Are you sure that I can leave you alone with him?" Cobal asked with a worried voice.

"Don't worry. I just want to talk with him really quick." I replied, following Wigglytuff, who had just opened the door to his room.

"Alright... I will see you later..." the knight returned, turning to Chatot again.

"I will see you later,...?" I repeated, giving him a mischievous grin.

The Lucario frowned. "Princess..."

"Okay, then..." the flying-type said, walking towards the sleeping charters.

I stepped into the office and closed the door behind me. Wigglytuff was standing in front of his desk, giving me a wide grin. An awkward silence was hanging in the room until Wigglytuff finally broke the ice.

...

"Well, hello there, Spirit of Faith."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 25**


	26. Reunions

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 26 - Reunions  
**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

* * *

**BGM: Cave - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Extended)  
**

My head hurt like it was about to explode and everything around me was spinning when I regained my consciousness again.

I opened my eyes. A blurry image of my lower body and stone floor underneath it entered my vision.

My eyes slowly adjusted themselves and the rest of my senses slowly returned too.

I was somewhere in a room that looked like a prison-cell... To my left and my right were gray brick walls and in front of me were metal bars, giving me vision on the hallway that lead to my cell.

I was sitting one the ground and my arms were held up into the air by something.

'What the...? Where...'

My awareness came back to me and I was finally able to think properly again. I couldn't move my hands in the way I wanted, so the obvious action to do was to inspect what was holding them back.

I looked up above me. Metal chains were attached to two shackles which were put onto my wrists, holding them up into the air.

I got onto my shaky feet and pulled on my bindings, trying to pull the chains from their anchoring. My attempt only made me hurt myself... It didn't move an inch.

When I turned my head to inspect the anchoring, I gasped.

A Grovyle was chained onto the wall, to my right, just like I was. The grass-type seemed to be unconscious. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving.

I didn't know what to do.

'It's... It's him! The thief...'

I looked to my left. Ozu was also chained up and unconscious. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that my partner was okay.

"Ozu! Wake up!" I called over to the Chimchar.

A small flame began to flicker on his backside, indicating that he was slowly waking up again.

"Ozu!" I said again. "Please!"

"Huh, what?" the fire-type asked, regaining the awareness of his surroundings.

He panicked a little when he noticed the bindings on his wrists.

"W-what's going on?" he asked, trying to free himself from the shackles.

"We're in the future." I replied, drawing his attention towards me.

His worried face lightened up a bit when he saw me. "Riley! Thank Arceus, you're here!"

Looking at me made him notice the unconscious grass-type to my right. "I-is that...?"

"Yes... Should we try to wake him up?" I asked with a worried voice.

"I don't know..." The Chimchar scanned the room all of a sudden. "Wait... Where's Ri? She should be here too."

"Y-you're right!" I did the same, scanning the room for a Riolu... She was nowhere to be seen. The three of us were the only Pokemon around.

"Maybe she's in another cell..." he said, looking at me again.

"Or maybe Dusknoir is trying to get the location of the missing Time Gear out of her right now." I had to gulp to that. If what I just said was true, Dusknoir and his men would be torturing the Riolu right now... Or do even worse things to her...

"Do you think that they are torturing her?!" Ozu was a little shocked by my presumption.

"I don't know... We need to get out of here somehow. Can you get out of those shackles somehow?" I replied.

He rose his head and looked at the chains that were attached to an anchoring above him.

"I could try to melt them..." he said, taking a deep breath. The fire-type then spit out an Ember attack, aiming for the chains... He kept on spitting the small flames at them until he was completely out of breath. A couple of black marks were on some of the chain links but other than that, his attempts had no effect. We wasn't able to focus his flames onto one spot, meaning that not enough heat was created to melt the metal.

"It doesn't work..." he panted, looking at me again.

"Ugh... We need to find another way... Catch your breath while I try to come up with something." I responded, noticing his exhaustion.

I then looked around the cell again... The only visible way out was through a metal door that was build into the metal bars in front of us. It was probably locked and if Ozu didn't manage to burn through the chains that were holding him, he also wouldn't be able to melt the bars in front of us.

I jumped a bit when I heard a grunt from my right. My eyes focused on the Grovyle next to me. He was moving and probably about to wake up.

"He's waking up!" I said, tensing up a bit.

"Ngh... Wha..." the grass-type said weakly.

Grovyle opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before he rose his head and looked around in the room he was in.

The grass-type had a confused expression on his face when he noticed us.

"Wh..." Grovyle coughed before he could continue. "Why are you two here? Aren't you two Riley's friends from the guild? Where is she?"

I looked at Ozu, who was giving me a questioning look. Neither of knew if we should respond or not. I faced the grass-type again and looked into his golden eyes. I hesitated a bit before I opened my mouth...

My goal right now was to get Ozu and me out of this prison and somehow get back to the past... I didn't like the idea that was forming in my head, but I had no other options.

Maybe my old 'partner' would help us if he knew who I really was...

"I'm here." I answered.

He blinked in response. It seemed like he tried to understand what I was trying to say for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I'm Riley. The real one. The Riolu that you thought to be me was another human with amnesia." I clarified.

"W-what...?" His eyes widened. The grass-type looked like he wasn't really able to process what I had just said. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm the real Riley... I woke up a couple of weeks ago as a Pikachu, with no memory what so ever... Except for my name and that I used to be human. I also have the Dimensional Scream, if the first things didn't persuade you." I explained.

Grovyle was speechless for a moment. "Y-you're... Riley?"

"But that would mean..." A shocked expression wandered onto his face. "S-she's not... You?!"

He broke eye-contact and let his head sink towards the ground. Grovyle was just sitting there with a wide open mouth, trying to take in the revelation.

"Oh no..." The grass-type gave me a quick glance and turned red a bit for some reason, resulting in confused looks from me and my partner.

It took him a while to swallow the new situation but after the grass-type calmed down again, he closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry..." he said, facing me again. "I guess I just really wanted you to be okay... and alive."

His concern threw me off a bit. "Alive?"

"We got attacked while we traveled back in time... I was really worried that you didn't make it at first." the grass-type explained with a faint smile. "And when... Ehm... 'She' told me that she was a human, I immediately hung onto the idea that she was you."

The way he cared for his partner perplexed me. The Grovyle in front of me tried to destroy the world... But he actually sounded... Nice.

Something that was bugging me for a while now came to my mind. And another question came with it.

"Why?"

He responded with a confused look. "Why, what?"

"Why do you want to destroy the world? Why did we want to destroy the world?" I asked in a sad voice, emphasizing on the 'we'.

"Destroy the world? Did Dusknoir put that into your head?" the grass-type asked with a confused look.

"Put that into my head? You tricked Ri into thinking that you are trying to save the world!" I replied with a little anger.

"But we are trying to save the world. When Temporal Tower falls, time around the whole world will stop. We can prevent it by bringing the Time..."

"Are you trying to trick us too?" I interrupted him. "I already know about the lie you told Celebi!"

"Lie I told Celebi?" A confused look wandered onto his face.

"Dusknoir said that you traveled back in time by tricking the legendary Pokemon Celebi. He said that you told her that you are trying to save the world by bringing the five Time Gears to Temporal Tower." Ozu explained.

The Grovyle closed his eyes for a moment, processing the lie he supposedly told.

"Have you ever thought twice about that statement?" he asked, opening his eyes again.

"Huh?" me and Ozu responded in union.

"Okay... Let's assume that time flows normally in the future you are in right now... How would Celebi believe us that we are trying to prevent the planet's paralysis if it never happened?" he explained.

He was right... Dusknoir's explanation had a flaw... I had been too shocked when he revealed my past to me, to actually think further about it.

"T-that makes sense!" the fire-type to my left replied.

"Look around you! Do you see any color? Do you hear anything, other than our voices?"

The three of us stayed silent while me and Ozu inspected our surrounding a little closer. Other than our bodies, everything was in black and white. The brick walls around us had little bits of moss growing on them... However, they were grey too.

...

Dead silence... The only thing I was able to hear was our breathing. It was so silent that I even managed to listen to my own heartbeat.

"So what?" I didn't know what he was trying to tell us.

"Time has stopped. Temporal Tower has fallen. That's why we are tying to collect the Time Gears and bring them to the tower in the past! The energy that is stored in those gears can restore the damage and return everything back to normal."

"But if you take a Time Gear from its place, time stops in that area!" Ozu threw in.

"I know... But it's only temporary. Once the tower is restored, time will begin to flow again in those areas...The gears have to take their energy from somewhere, don't they?"

"But..." He was beating me with simple logic. It tried to deny him one last time but the grass-type interrupted me.

"But what? Riley, please. Wouldn't you rather be somebody that tried to save the world than somebody who tried to destroy it?" he asked with a pressing tone.

"I..." I couldn't respond for a while.

Ri had asked me the same question before.

...

'I want to be a person that tried to save the world... But if Grovyle is telling us the truth right now...'

Gritting my teeth, I felt a lot anger well up inside of me.

'Dusknoir... This bastard lied to me ever since he knew who I was...'

"Riley... You wouldn't be a criminal... You would be a hero!" Ozu beamed.

"If we two really are supposed to be heroes, then why is Dusknoir trying to stop us?" I asked the Grovyle next to me.

Grovyle hesitated a moment before he answered. "Ehm... It's not him... It's his master that tries to stop us. Primal Dialga."

"Primal Dialga?" Ozu asked with a confused tone. "Isn't Dialga the Pokemon that controls time?"

"Yes... But here in the future, it's called Primal Dialga. The original Dialga from the past had a deep connection with Temporal Tower, the place that keeps time itself intact. When the tower began to crumble, Dialga slowly turned mad... It slowly became a feral beast who's only goal is chaos and destruction. And after the tower fell and time stopped... Well, Dialga completely changed and became a being of darkness..." he explained.

"T-that's why he's trying to stop you? Because some evil god ordered him to?" I asked.

"Primal Dialga is no ordinary Pokemon... The darkness inside of it has given it unbelievable power... Everybody that tries to defy it gets killed." the grass-type continued.

Ozu gulped. "Is it really that powerful?"

"Yes... That's another reason why we need to prevent the planet's paralysis... To stop this monster." Grovyle answered in a serious tone.

"Riley..." Ozu said, drawing my attention to him.

The Chimchar was giving me a serious look. "I think we should believe him."

I broke eye-contact with the fire-type and went over everything Grovyle had said again.

...

"Okay... If Ozu thinks that we can trust you..." I said, turning around to the Grovyle again. "Then I will believe you."

"Great to have you back..." the grass-type replied with smile before his look turned serious again. "But this isn't the time to celebrate a happy reunion. We need to get out of here... And find... What did you call her again? Ri?"

My expression turned a bit grim when I thought about the Riolu again. She might have tried to save the world but the way she did it was just wrong. But somehow I felt sorry for her... We had to save her.

"Do you have an idea how we can get out of here?" Ozu asked our new partner.

"I assume that you already tried to burn through your chains..." Grovyle replied, looking at Ozu's bindings.

The Chimchar nodded with a sad look. "Can you get out of your shackles somehow?"

The grass-type sighed in response. "No... I think we're stuck here for now..."

A smirk appeared on his face all of a sudden. "But I already have a plan on how to get out of here."

"Really? What do you have in mind?" I asked with a surprised look.

"Alright... Here's what we are going to do..."

**Stop music  
**

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

"Well, hello there, Spirit of Faith." Wigglytuff said with a smile.

"You know about the legend?" I asked with a surprised expression on my face.

The fairy-type responded with a giggle. "Yup! I never imagined that Ri would turn out to be this hero from Alteal."

That confirmed my assumption that he already knew who I was.

"So you really know that it's me... I... I'm sorry..." I said, letting my head sink towards the ground. "For hurting the others... For the lies..."

Wigglytuff's tone got serious all of a sudden. "My friend... I'm not angry or anything... I just really want to know why you did all of this."

"Should I tell you my whole story?" I asked.

"We have time, don't we?" he said, sitting onto the desk behind him. He then indicated me to sit down onto a chair that was next to his table.

"Alright... This is going to take a while..." I said, pulling the chair in front of the fairy-type and sitting down on it.

...

I then told him the whole story... Just like I did with Cobal yesterday.

...

...

...

"... and then we came here to Treasure Town to find out what had happened at the main square." I finished.

My head sank towards the ground again. "I'm sorry... I should have been honest with all of you from the beginning."

I clutched my paws, which were placed onto my thighs. "They're gone... Because of me... Dusknoir is going to do who knows what to them... All because of me."

The fairy-type hopped from his desk and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Don't blame yourself like that. Who knows what could have happened if you told us the truth right from the start."

I faced him again. "S-so you believe me?"

"You are the Spirit of Faith after all... There has to be some kind of catastrophe going on if you are here right now." he replied, taking his hand away again. "And the whole story with the Time Gears sounds believable too."

I responded with a warm smile. "Thank you."

"No, problem... Princess." the fairy-type giggled.

I frowned in response to his tease... "Ugh... Can we stay serious, please? Only for once?"

"Hihihi! Alright. What do you plan to do now?" he asked.

"Uhm... I want to save Grovyle and my friends... But I have no idea how I could get to the future." I replied with a sigh. "I will collect the Time Gears again and finish what Grovyle and Riley started."

"I think that won't be easy my friend... Magnezone has sent out very strong teams to bring back the gears and guard them." Wigglytuff replied with worried look.

"Maybe some of them know about the Spirit of Faith and will just let me collect it... And if they don't... Well, I think Cobal and I will be able to handle them... After that we will go to Temporal Tower and stop this whole crisis." I continued.

"Do you know where this Temporal Tower actually is?" he asked.

"Uhm... No... Grovyle never told me about it's actual location." I answered, bringing my paw up to my chin.

"I know how I will help you then. While you are collecting the Time Gears, I will see if I can find that tower."

"What should we do about the other guild members and the Pokemon from Treasure Town?" I asked with a worried look, bringing my paw down again.

"Don't worry about them. I will handle everything while you're gone."

He had a nervous grin on his face all of a sudden. "At least I hope that I will!"

"Ugh... So they could try to arrest me when I come back with the gears..." I frowned.

"Well, at least the guild is going to stay behind you." he said with a smile.

Wigglytuff seemed to remember something all of a sudden.

"Oh, there's something I have for you!" the fairy-type said, walking to one of the treasure chests that were standing in the room.

After fiddling around with it for a moment, he pulled out two pouches and a pair of broken desert goggles.

"That's the stuff the Sableye took from you!" Wigglytuff explained, handing the items over to me.

"Thank you." I said, grabbing the pouches with my right paw and the goggles with my left one.

I inspected the goggles again. They were dusty and the left glass was broken. A weird feeling rushed through my head while I looked at them... Just like it usually did. The way they were laying in my charred hand... Something was strange about it. It was almost as if my brain tried to connect the...

"Ngh!" A jolt of pain rushed through my head. A memory flashed through my mind.

_"I... I'm sorry... I never wanted to hurt you..."_

A muffled voice echoed through my head an my left arm began to hurt as if it was on fire. My breathing turned hectic as I tried to dull the pain that way somehow.

I had to drop the pouches in my right paw and brought my hand up to my left upper arm.

After a couple second, the pain and the headache slowly faded... My body calmed down again and my breathing returned to normal.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Wigglytuff asked with a worried voice.

I let go of my left arm and moved it around a bit. "Ugh... I'm okay... My arm just hurt all of a sudden."

The fairy-type picked up the two pouches from the floor and handed the to me again. "Are you really okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, grabbing the pouches again and getting up from the chair. "Can you keep my identity a secret until I leave with Cobal?"

"If that's how you want it to be, sure thing!" he replied.

"Thank you, Wigglytuff." I walked up to the door of his office and opened it. "See you at the morning briefing. Good night."

"Good night, princess!" Wigglytuff teased.

I was a little annoyed but somehow I couldn't help myself. Smiling at him one last time, I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me.

It was already nighttime... Only a faint rays of moonlight from the windows were lighting up the main room of the guild.

I knew which room Chatot and Wigglytuff were talking about earlier, so I slowly made my way to my old room... All the doors on the hallway were closed so I assumed that all the other Pokemon were already asleep. Telling Wigglytuff my story took a while after all.

Still in the hallway, I gave my old goggles a quick glance again.

'What is it with me and those goggles? It's almost like they are trying to remind me of something...'

For some reason I remembered the flickering figure from my memory shreds at that moment.

'No... Not something... Rather someone.'

My mood turned sad when I remembered the first time I had this weird feeling.

'It's the same with Ozu... Why did I feel so strange when I looked at him? Ugh...'

Reaching the door to my old room, I put the goggles into one of the pouches on my new belt.

I opened the door and stepped into my room. The moonlight from the window on the opposite side of the room was lighting up everything. Cobal was sitting on Ozu's bed in a meditating-position. His equipment was placed on the table that was standing on the right wall of the wall.

"All done?" the Lucario asked, opening his eyes.

"Yeah..." I replied, closing the door behind me.

"What was that all about?" he questioned.

"I just had a little chat with an old friend." I answered, walking up to the table and putting my two pouches onto it. "Wigglytuff is really something else..."

Untying my belt from my hip, I began to explain my whole conversation with the guildmaster.

...

I was sitting on my own bed when I finished to explain the Lucario what was going on.

"I see... So we are going to start to collect the Time Gears tomorrow." he concluded.

"That's right." I replied.

"So which one are we going to get first?" Cobal asked.

I folded my arms and closed my eyes.

'Which one? Okay... Crystal Cave, Quicksand Desert, Fogbound Lake, Limestone Cavern or Treeshroud...'

I opened my eyes and looked at my right paw. "Uhm... Cobal..."

"What is it?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Remember the symbol I told you about? You know, the one that showed up whenever I was near a Time Gear." I replied, looking at him again.

"What about it?" His expression turned even more confused.

"I... I think it's connected to the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest somehow..." I answered.

"Like how?"

"I'm not sure... The Time Gear from that forest is missing and Grovyle found me at the place where the Time Gear should have been. That has to be connected somehow."

"Are you trying to say that you somehow stole the Time Gear without knowing?" Cobal asked.

"Maybe... Ugh... I don't know... Maybe I 'fused' with the gear somehow... That would be an explanation on why the symbol on my paw looks exactly like a Time Gear. It would also somewhat explain why it only shows up when I'm near another Time Gear... Do you know about any power of the Spirit of Faith that could cause something like that? Fusing with a Time Gear?" I explained.

"Maybe the Spirit of Faith's power to time-travel has something to do with it. You would actually be a Pokemon from another time and not some kind of ghost." he replied.

"But how are we supposed to get the Time Gear then?" I asked.

"If it really has something to do with your powers then you should be able to reverse the effect, right?" the fighting-type continued.

"But how?"

"Have you tried to concentrate your aura into the spot where the symbol should be?" the Lucario replied.

I unfolded my arms and held up might right paw in front of me. It began to emit my usual blue aura when I began to concentrate my energy onto the back of my hand.

But other than that, nothing happened.

I let out a sigh of disappointment. "Nope..."

"Hmm... Aura seems to have nothing to do with it then... Maybe the energy that radiates from the other Time Gears is the reason it appears." Cobal responded.

"So we need another Time Gear to find out more about it..." I replied, bringing my paw down again.

"I believe so... Anyway, have you made your decision?" he asked.

'Which one then? Should I go in the same order Grovyle collected them? Hmm... We would go to Limestone Cavern then. But I have no idea how far away it is from Treasure Town... Fogbound Lake, Quicksand Desert and Crystal Cave were reachable in about a day... Alright... I know which one...'

"Fogbound Lake..." I answered. "We can be there in a day and I already know where the Time Gear is hidden."

"We should get some sleep then..." he suggested. "It's going to be a long walk tomorrow."

I nodded. "Right."

The Lucario laid down onto his bed and closed his eyes.

I did the same and placed my head onto the hay underneath me.

My mind had a lot of things to worry about.

'Riley, Ozu, Grovyle... I hope they are okay...'

After bringing my body into a comfortable sleeping position, I slowly began to drift into sleep.

Tomorrow we would begin to collect the Time Gears again.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 26**


	27. Tricks

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 27 - Tricks  
**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

* * *

"Knock them out." one of the Sableye, that had come into our cell, ordered.

Three of the dark-types came closer to Ozu, Grovyle and me, each of them having a wooden club in they hand.

'Ugh... This is going to hurt but its a part of Grovyle's plan.'

I turned my head to Ozu, who had his eyes shut and head pointed downwards. The fire-type probably just wanted it to be over quickly. I knew that he didn't like pain...

A wide grin had formed on the Sableye's face that was approaching me, when I turned forward again.

Gritting my teeth, I looked at Grovyle. The grass-type also had his eyes closed... The difference with Ozu was that he, unlike the fire-type, had a smirk on his face.

Focusing on the dark-type again, I saw that it had just raised the club above it's head.

I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable...

'Crap...'

For a split second, I was able to feel a searing pain at the left side of my head. Then, I lost consciousness.

...

...

...

"Riley!" A voice said, pulling me back into consciousness.

The left side of my head hurt like hell and everything was spinning.

"Ugh... Crap..." I muttered, opening my eyes.

I was somewhere in a roomy circular room. In front of me was the blurry image of a big metal door. Looking down at my body revealed that I was tied to something behind me with a thick rope. My feet barely touched the stone floor that was underneath me.

"Riley! Wake up!" This time I was able to identify the voice as Ozu's.

As it was coming from my left, I turned towards the direction of its source.

A Chimchar was tied onto a grey stone pillar with the same kind of rope I was.

"Ozu? Ugh... Where are we?" I asked, slowly becoming aware of the situation again.

"I don't know." he replied, giving me a worried look. "We're not in the same room as before. Do you think that this is the room Grovyle was talking about!"

I turned to my right to further inspect the room. Next to me was yet another stone pillar. Grovyle was bound onto it and seemed to be unconscious.

"I hope so..." I answered, focusing my look on the grass-type.

"Grovyle! Wake up!" I yelled at him, trying wake him up again.

The grass-type let out a couple of grunts in response, before he slowly rose his head and opened his eyes. Just like earlier, he blinked a couple of times and scanned his surroundings before he faced us.

"Ugh... That could've been more pleasant... But at least they brought us where I thought they would." he said with a faint smile.

"So this is the execution-chamber..." I replied, looking around the room.

"But where is Ri? You said that they would most likely bring her here too..." Ozu asked with a confused look on his face.

The Grovyle next to me grit his teeth. "This is bad... If Dusknoir's men don't take her here before the next step of the plan, we might have to make a little detour on our way out..."

"Are you sure that it will work?" the fire-type to my left asked.

Grovyle responded with a sigh. "We went over this three times in the cell... As long as you make a good job on your part, I'm sure of it."

"Ugh... But I'm not sure if I can pull it off..." Ozu replied.

"Come on, Ozu! It worked fine in the cell, so I'm sure that you can do it again!" I threw in, trying to cheer him up a bit.

His worried look turned into a smile. "Okay."

"Riley... Don't forget your role." Grovyle said, drawing my attention back to him. "Once the distraction is up, I need you to get Ri. There might be no opportunity to fill her in, so make sure that everything goes as planned."

I nodded. "Got it."

Just when then, I heard how the big metal door in front of us opened. A group of Sableye entered the room and lined up next to the entrance. Shortly after them, Dusknoir floated in too. The dark-types quickly closed the door behind him and walked up next to him. There was still not a trace of Ri.

"Where's Ri?!" I yelled, before the ghost-type could even begin to talk.

Dusknoir had a grin on his face when he answered. "Why would you care? I thought you hated people like her. She lied to you ever since you met, didn't she?"

"Just tell us where she is!" I replied, gritting my teeth. He might have been right, but I didn't care at that moment.

"Why should I? You are not really in a position to give orders." he chuckled.

"What did you do to her?" Ozu asked.

"You really want to know that badly?" the ghost-type said while he turned to Grovyle. "What about you Grovyle? Do you want to know too?"

The grass-type didn't answer and simply replied by turning his head away from Dusknoir.

"No?... Well, that's too bad. Now you will never know that we have already disposed of her." the ghost responded with a tone of indifference in his voice.

"D-disposed?!" I repeated, making sure that I heard him right.

"Yes." Dusknoir chuckled again. "Your friend... is dead."

My eyes widened.

"W-what?" Ozu asked with a shocked look on his face.

Grovyle's mouth was wide open and the look he had in his eyes told me that he didn't quite believe Dusknoir.

"The Riolu is dead. The wounds from your fight with her finished her off." Dusknoir clarified.

"N-no! How could..." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"The cut on her shoulder made her lose a lot of blood... She died before we could even lock her up." he continued. "She was already unconscious after the time-travel and when my men checked her body, she had already bled out."

"S-she... She bled out...?" I repeated.

It took me a while to process all the information.

'She... She did have an open wound on her shoulder. Did... Did she really bleed out from that? Is she... Is she really dead? I... I didn't even care if Dusknoir would kill her in the future before... But... That was before I knew that she was trying to do the right thing... I...'

I couldn't help myself but to feel a deep sadness rise up inside of me... I was angry at the person that lied to me and Ozu but... My heart felt as heavy as a rock when I realized that we would never see the person I saw Ri as, before I knew who she really was, again. The Ri that was a member of Team Ignition...and...my friend.

...

"You're lying!" Ozu's voice echoed through the room.

I turned to my left and locked at the Chimchar. He was gritting his teeth while his eyes were focused on the ghost-type in front of us. "There's no way she's dead!"

Dusknoir responded with a confused look. "What? You don't believe me?"

"Why should we believe you after you tricked Riley like that?!" the fire-type answered.

The ghost shrugged before he put on an evil grin and pulled something out of the mouth on his belly. It was a tattered, red piece of cloth that was stained with blood and dirt. "I believe this is _her_ scarf?"

"N-no... It... It can't be..." Ozu voice got lower with every word while a look of disbelief wandered onto his face.

"And besides, I don't really have a reason to lie right now, do I? If Ri was still alive, she would be executed with you right now..." The ghost-type in front of us smirked and dropped Ri's scarf onto the floor in front of us.

My partner didn't know how to respond. Breaking eye-contact with the ghost-type, Ozu let his head sink towards the ground.

"Dammit." Tears were forming in his eyes.

I had already accepted that she was gone before that but now that Dusknoir showed us her scarf and the way Ozu lost his hope sealed it for me.

Closing my eyes, I bit my lip. 'She's really dead...'

The side inside of me that still felt some friendship towards her was just about to burst out in tears, however, the anger from her lies kept them at bay.

I opened my eyes again and looked at Grovyle who was gritting his teeth. It looked like he was in deep thought.

Dusknoir chuckled and continued. "But maybe I'm just saying this to discourage you before you join her... Maybe I really am sadistic like that and enjoy your suffering... Who knows?"

The ghost-type then looked at the Sableye who were standing next to him. They responded immediately began to walk towards us.

A loud roar echoed though the room all of a sudden. The Sableye that were approaching us stopped and turned around to Dusknoir who was having a disappointed look on his face.

The ghost-type sighed. "I would have loved to see you three dying but my master calls me... Sableye, finish them and dispose of their bodies."

He then turned around and floated to the big metal door in front of us.

When the ghost was gone, the Sableye faced us again and continued to begin with our execution.

The dark-type's had almost reached us when Grovyle gave the signal to begin with our plan. "Ozu! Now!"

Ozu shook the sad expression out of his face and took a deep breath, before he spat out a cloud of black smoke from his mouth. It quickly filled the room, occupying the vision between us and our executioners. The dark-type's yelled and tried to orientate themselves in the thick cloud.

'He did it... It took him only half an hour to learn Smoke Screen.'

Now I only had to wait for Grovyle's part. I didn't have to wait very long as the ropes around my body loosened at the exact moment I thought about him.

The grass-type grabbed my arm and pulled me to my left, where Ozu was. I was only able to gain input from my surroundings through my ears, as the thick smoke was occupying my vision too.

It sounded like a piece of rope was cut next to me before Grovyle let go of my hand.

Knowing what would come next, I closed my eyes and put my paws on my nose and mouth. Grovyle grabbed my shoulder and pushed me toward the ground.

I let out a little grunt when I felt the pain from the impact with the ground. I could feel that I was laying in a hole as it was just big enough for my body to fit in.

'Alright... Here comes the next uncomfortable part...'

Taking one last deep breath, I braced myself to be buried alive.

It didn't take long until I felt how the first hump of earth was thrown on top of me. In a matter of seconds, my whole body was buried under a thin layer of earth, cutting me off from the world above me.

Silence. My ears were surrounded with earth but luckily none of it managed to enter them.

...

'Oh my god, this sucks...'

...

My lungs were beginning to order for fresh air.

'Already?! It's only been ten seconds! Or five? Ugh...'

The silence and the pressure on my body were slowly making me panic. That my lungs desire for fresh air was getting more noticable with every second didn't help either.

'Twenty seconds? How long have I been down here? How long are they going to take?'

...

My chest began to hurt.

'Thirty seconds? Ugh! Grovyle! Why did I agree to something like this?!'

...

My lungs were screaming for air now.

'I... I need to get out of here. I'm sure that the Sableye are gone! I... I need to breath!'

Panic was overcoming me and I tried to move my body. The earth that completely surrounded me and the weight from the soil above me didn't allow me to do so.

'Air! I need to breath!'

My lungs felt like they were on fire and their screaming for air was occupying my mind.

...

'Grovyle! Ozu!'

...

I began to feel tired and the desire to breath was drifting into the background.

'Air...'

The awareness of my body slowly faded away too.

'Ozu...'

...

...

...

The missing oxygen in my brain made me slowly drift into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

"Errr... Excuse me. Your... errr... highness? Is it okay if I wake you two?" a voice said, waking me from my sleep.

I opened my eyes and got my body into a sitting-position. After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked around to find the source of the voice.

Loudred was standing in the doorway of the room, giving me with a nervous look.

"Huh?" I asked, giving him a confused look.

"P-princess... The daily morning briefing will begin shortly... W-would you like to accompany us?" the normal-type asked, doing his best not to yell.

I had to chuckle to his struggle to keep his voice down.

"Yes, we'll be there." I answered, giving him a smile.

Loudred closed the door again and I looked at Cobal who was still laying in his bed.

The Lucario was still asleep. His arms and legs were laying spread on the hay and a huge snot-bubble was coming out of his nose.

It was not something you would expect from a royal knight.

I got up from my bed and stretched my body, trying to get the last bits of sleep out of it. I then approached the Lucario who was snoozing in Ozu's bed. "Uhm... Cobal? Hello? Wake up."

No response... At first. The bubble on his nose busted and a loud snore escaped the fighting-type's mouth.

I sweatdropped when a bubble that was twice as big as the last one formed on his nose.

Squatting down to him, I poked the Lucario's head with my paw. "Cobal!"

His second bubbled busted too and his body shot into a sitting position.

"Huh? What's wrong?" the knight looked hectically around in the room, trying to get aware of his surroundings.

"It's morning." I said, drawing the fighting-type's attention to me.

"Wha... Err...Okay." He blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes with his right paw.

I got up to my feet again walked over to our gear.

My eyes focused on my two old pouches. I grabbed my 'hip-pouch' in which I always stored my explorer-badge. Cobal had just walked next to me when I opened it to look for my badge.

The pouch was empty, putting a confused look on my face.

Grabbing my new belt, I tied the pouch next to the other pouches on the belt.

I then grabbed my other pouch... The one Grovyle had given me.

Two Oran Berries and the Luminous Orb were still inside.

After tying it onto my right upper leg, I began to put on the rest of my new equipment.

When both of us were ready, Cobal opened the door and stepped out of the room.

I inspected my old room one last time before I followed him and closed the door behind me.

The guild members were already lined up in front of Wigglytuff's office when we arrived.

Everyone's eyes focused on me when we walked out of the hallway and got to the spot where me and my friends used to stand.

A lot of mumbling could be heard between the Pokemon. Some of them were giving me nervous looks. I assumed that they were debating on talking with the 'princess' that was among them.

Chatot and the guildmaster stepped out of the office when Sunflora and Bidoof were just about to approach me.

They quickly got back to their place and Chatot began with the morning speech.

...

"HURRAY!" everyone cheered like usual.

After that, everyone's eyes focused on me and my partner again.

...

"Uhm... Morning?" I said, feeling a little uneasy because of the stares.

Chatot cleared his throat. "Ehm... I assume that you will continue with your search for Ri... Err... Princess Olivia. Would you like to say a couple of words before you leave, your highness?"

"Well, the only think I can say is thank you. I... Uhm... The royal family of Alteal thanks you for your hospitality." I replied with a somewhat nervous smile.

"Oh, there's no need to thank us! It was an honor to have such rare guests." the flying-type exclaimed.

Wigglytuff took one step towards me, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Princess Faith."

He let out a short giggle before he continued. "We would like to lead you to the exit and say a proper good-bye to you!"

"Uhm... Okay." I returned, following the fairy-type, who was already walking towards the ladder.

Cobal and I followed him out of the guild and stopped at the edge of the stairway that lead to the crossing. The other guild members followed too and lined up in front of the Wigglytuff-shaped tent.

"Alright, everyone! Let's say a proper good-bye to our new friends!" Wigglytuff ordered with a wide smile.

"Good-bye!" the whole guild exclaimed.

"Thank you." me and my partner replied.

I then held my right paw out to Wigglytuff, who was immediately accepting my handshake.

"Good luck! Friend!" the fairy-type said with a wide smile.

I nodded in response and let go of his hand. "Thank you."

Cobal and I then said good-bye one last time and walked down the staircase.

On the crossing, we took the path to our left. We had just left Treasure Town for good when the Lucario spoke up again.

"How did you manage to become a princess again?" the knight asked.

"Hey! It's not like I wanted it to happen!" I replied, feeling somewhat attacked by him.

He sighed. "If any of this leaks through to Alteal, I'm going to be in great trouble..."

"That's why were not going to lie to anyone else. You have seen in what kind of trouble my 'disguise' brought us." I returned with a serious voice. "From now on I'll only be myself."

"Are you sure about that?" the Lucario asked with a worried look. "You do remember that there's a bounty of ten-thousand Poke on your head."

"Well, they're looking for a Riolu and it's not like that I'll go around and scream my name into the air." I returned. "We'll just run into trouble if someone asks for my name..."

"Okay, then..." Cobal said, worry still noticable in his voice.

Just then we heard a scream from behind us.

"OH... MY... GOSH!"

Sunflora's voice echoed all the way from the guild to us. We had left Treasure Town five minutes ago and the distance between us and the guild was quite far, making the volume of Sunflora's voice surprisingly loud. It could have even been louder than Loudred.

"What was that?" Cobal asked. He stopped walking and turned around.

"I guess, Wigglytuff just told them." I assumed, keeping up the pace of my walk.

"Right..." The knight, caught up with me again and faced me, drawing my view at him again. "So which way should we take? The route along the coast and Mount Horn or the should we take the main road the runs through the middle of the continent?"

"Depends on which one is faster... Last time I traveled to Foggy Forest, I took the route along the coast." I replied.

"The coast-route is shorter but we can travel faster on the road... I think it would take us the same amount of time." Cobal explained.

"Well, let's take the road then. We won't have to worry about dungeons and wild Pokemon that way." I decided.

...

After about five hours of walking, it was shortly after noon, so we decided to take a break and have a quick lunch.

On the sides of the dirt road were forests and bushes. We walked up to a tree trunk that was standing just at the edge of the road and Cobal pulled out two apples from the slightly bigger pouch on his belt.

"Thank you!" I said when the Lucario offered me one of the fruits. I grabbed it and sat down on the soft, grassy floor that was growing out of the forest.

The fighting-type nodded and sat down on the trunk, taking the first bite out of his meal.

In a matter of second, my apple was gone and only its core was left in my paw. I turned to the bushes to my right and disposed of the remainings from the fruit by throwing them into the forest.

My view wandered back to Cobal, who was just halfway done with his meal. All of a sudden, a thought entered my mind.

'Do I actually know how strong my new partner is?'

Closing my eyes, I tried to measure his strength with the knowledge I had about him at that moment.

'He's able to mega-evolve but does that really say that much about his strength? I have never seen him in an actual fight... That makes me curious... Would he...?'

Opening my eyes, I faced the Lucario again.

"Care to have a quick sparring match before we continue? Would be bad if we got rusty, right?" I asked with an expectant look.

He took the last bite from his apple and threw the core over his shoulder before he answered to my request. "Hmm... We should prepare ourselves for possible resistance from the teams that guard the Time Gears... It would also be an unique opportunity. A match with the Spirit of Faith..."

Cobal got up from the tree trunk and gave me a confident look. "It's also a great opportunity for you to see how much stronger your evolution made you. I would like to allow the use of moves... Are you okay with that?"

A wide grin formed on my face as I got up from the ground. "So it's going to be a real match then..."

Cobal shook his head. "In a real match, I would use my sword and Mega-Evolution... This is just a battle to measure each others strength."

"But how am I supposed to measure your full strength if you don't give it your all?" I pouted.

The knight sighed. "We might have a real fight another time... First, we need to focus on collecting the Time Gears. We can't afford that one of us gets severly injured."

Somewhat disappointed, I pulled my sword out and pushed it into the ground in front of me. "Fine... Let's go then."

Cobal did the same and we created some distance between us and our equipment. The dirt road was just wide enough to act as a battlefield.

When we were apart far enough, I began to warm myself up.

The knight in front of me took one deep breath and exhaled through his mouth.

Both of us got into our battle-stance and met each others eyes.

Cobal's stance wasn't really a stance. He only took one step back with his right foot and turned his body sideways.

"Ready?" I called, taking one last deep breath.

"Always." the Lucario returned.

**~ BGM: Keep Pressing On - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (Extended) (Not the Variation-version)  
**

I immediately concentrated onto Extemespeed and dashed at him, pulling my right fist back.

His eyes locked onto my fist and when I was in reach to throw a punch at him, he simply sidestepped to move out of my way.

Gritting my teeth, I dug my feet into the ground and spun around, preparing a kick to the knights side.

My attack missed again as Cobal took another sidestep to move out of my attacks reach.

Taking one step towards me opponent, I quickly created an overcharged bone in my paw and launched it at the Lucario.

At the exact moment my baton left my paw, I concentrated on Extemespeed again and dashed behind him. It was the same trick I had used in my battle with Groudon at Fogbound Lake. He was caught in a situation where one of my attacks was guaranteed to make contact.

Cobal sidestepped yet again to dodge my projectile. Just like I anticipated him to do. A grunt escaped his mouth when a kick to his back pushed him forward.

The knight rolled forward and immediately turned around to face me again. While I landed on my feet, the bone I had thrown at Cobal made contact with a tree that stood on the sideline of the battlefield. It exploded, resulting in a small shockwave that blew a lot of dust into our direction.

All of a sudden, only stirred up dust could be seen where Cobal was standing. I wasn't even able to react when I felt how a hand touched my shoulder and turned me around. When I was able to see him again, a rapid series of punches was thrown into my chest and the air was pressed out of my lungs.

I quickly jumped back and got out of his reach, taking a deep breath to fill my lungs with air again. The Lucario immediately dashed after me, preparing another punch.

Concentrating on Extremespeed, I pushed myself towards my opponent and focused my aura into my right paw. Seeing everything in slow-motion, I was able to anticipate Cobal's movement and quickly evaded his punch. I then pushed my paw onto his belly, beginning to release the stored aura from my hand.

The Lucario's eyes widened when he began to feel the pressure from my Force Palm. The blast he was sent flying with was enormous as a shockwave was thrown into the air between us. The recoil was immense too. The blast sent me flying just like him. I landed painfully on my back. With one eye shut, I was able to see how my opponent crashed into a tree.

He let out grunt and landed back on his feet, clutching his stomach with his paw. The fighting-type growled at me and used Extremespeed.

His fist made contact with my face when I had gotten back onto my feet, making me shut my eyes. When I opened the again to face my opponent, he was already gone.

My ears twitched when I heard something soar through the air around me. The dust that was stirred from my Bone Rush, revealed that Cobal was dashing around me with and unbelievable amount of speed as my eyes were not even able to follow him.

I felt another attack to my right side, making me stumble to my left. I wasn't even able to regain my balance before yet another punch to my face pushed me to my right again. A kick to my stomach. Another punch to the right side of my face.

I wasn't able to counter any of his attack as the Lucario didn't even give me time to become aware of his position. Concentrating on Extemespeed, I narrowed my eyes to locate him somehow. The stirred up dust from before helped as it was trailing behind the fighting-type. Cobal was dashing at me from the left, preparing another punch towards my face.

Digging my left foot into the ground, I used the momentum from his last attack to spin my body around and prepare a kick with my right foot.

My opponent grit his teeth when my foot made contact with his exposed belly.

"Hyya!" I yelled, putting some force behind my kick. The Lucario stumbled back a few steps, giving me an oppotunity to counterattack. Keeping up Extremespeed, I ran after him and threw my right fist forward.

Cobal's eyes made contact with mine when he pushed his left foot into the ground behind him to regain his balance. My paw was just about to hit him in the face when his left hand wandered upwards, diverting my attack. Not only did he divert it, he also grabbed by lower arm. The fighting-type then quickly pushed his other paw onto my stomach.

Gritting my teeth, I braced myself to be hit by his own Force Palm attack. Not only did it feel like being hit by car when I began to feel the pressure on my stomach, it also felt like a stream of energy was shooting through each my organs. I screamed when the force lifted me from my feet and launched me backwards.

Just like Cobal before, I was sent into a tree that was standing on the side of the road.

I landed on my feet and fell onto my right knee. Holding my body up with my left arm, I rose my head and faced my opponent again.

"Enough?" Cobal asked, when he noticed that I was panting.

Shaking my head, I got back onto my feet and gave him a smirk. "You want to quit already? I expected more from you!"

The Lucario returned my smirk and got back into his battle-stance.

Doing the same, I locked my eyes with his again.

Concentrating my aura into my right paw, I dashed towards him again.

Cobal put his right foot behind his body and kneeled down a bit. He then held his two paws together at his right side, letting his aura flow into the space between them. A bright light began to form between his hands and quickly grew into a bright-blue sphere of aura.

The pace at which I was running at him was slowing down as my eyes focused on the blue ball of energy in his paws. The way the aura was swirling around inside the sphere gave me a strange feeling somehow.

**Stop music**

A jolt of pain rushed through my head all of a sudden. Another memory.

_I was somewhere in a courtyard. Two battlefield were drawn onto the ground on my left and a couple of wooden dummies were placed to my right. A blue paw entered my vision. A flame of aura was beginning to flicker inside of it, slowly compressing into a glowing ball of energy. The energy began to rotate inside of the sphere while it was growing in size at the same time. It was almost twice as big as the blue paw when suddenly...  
_

The sound of an explosion and a searing pain all over my body pulled me back into reality. I let out a scream while I was sent flying backwards and landed painfully on my back.

"Are you okay?!" Cobal's voice called through my muffled hearing.

I opened my eyes and was greeted with the blurry image of the sky. The front of my body hurt like it was on fire. A couple of streams of black smoke entered my vision. I already knew where they were coming from when I rose my aching body into a sitting position. A couple of burn marks were littered across my upper legs, stomach and chest. In general, I was covered with bruises and my fur was a mess.

"Ri?" Cobal asked, approaching me. The Lucario held out his paw to me when he reached me.

"I... What..." I brought my left paw up to my head and grabbed the knights paw with my right one.

"Why didn't you dodge? You stopped running and looked completely absent all of a sudden." he said, pulling me up from the ground.

"I... I just had another memory shred." I replied, letting go of his hand and bringing my paw down from my head.

"What did you remember?" Cobal asked with an expectant look.

"I'm not sure... I think I can show you." I said putting my right paw between us.

"Huh? What do you...?" He didn't finish his question as he understood what I was trying to do mid-sentence. "You remembered how to use Aura Sphere?"

"Aura Sphere?" I repeated. "So that's what it's called... Uhm... I'm not really sure. I'll try it."

Cobal and I looked down at my paw between us. I concentrated my aura into my palm and a small 'flame' of aura began to flicker in my hand. Just like in my memory.

I somewhat had an idea on what to do next. Concentrating my aura into one single spot, the energy began to compress into a small sphere.

"It's working!" I cheered with a smile, as the ball of energy began to grow in size. The aura inside of it began to rotate when the sphere had almost reached the size of my paw. Concentrating more aura into the sphere made it grow even bigger. I was able to hear a high pitched humming from the Aura Sphere all of a sudden. The rotating energy was beginning to leak out at a couple of spots.

"You shouldn't..." Cobal was beginning to say, but it was already too late.

The knight brought his arms up to protect himself from the sphere of energy. The stored aura began to release itself.

My eyes widened when the bright-blue light from the sphere engulfed me as it was blowing up right into my face.

At first everything was white and my body was covered with pain. It only lasted for a split second though as the pain suddenly faded away and my consciousness and vision drifted into darkness.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 27**


	28. A feared future

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 28 - A feared future**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

* * *

"Riley!" a muffled voice called out to me, making me slowly regain my consciousness.

I became aware that something was rested on my chest and that my head was held up a bit from the ground I felt under me.

"Please, wake up!" the voice called again while I felt how the person that was holding me tried to shake me awake.

A cough escaped my mouth while I opened my eyes. I was greeted with the blurry image of a Chimchar.

"You're okay!" Ozu's voice exclaimed while whoever was holding me, pulled me up and embraced me.

"Y-yeah..." I replied weakly, slowly remembering the unpleasant event from before I lost consciousness.

I also became aware that it was Ozu who was hugging me tightly at that moment.

"O-ozu! Y-you can let go. I'm okay!" I said, turning red a bit while my vision became clear again.

My partner immediately seemed to notice what he was doing as he quickly let go of me and moved back a bit.

"S-sorry!" he said with a nervous voice. The Chimchar had turned red himself while he rubbed the back of his head.

'Why would he turn red like that? It almost looks like he's...'

Shrugging off the strange though that was forming in my head, I looked around to become aware of my surroundings.

I was sitting on a grey, rock floor. To my right was a stone cliff that ran up about twenty meters above me.

A gasp escape my mouth when I turned to my left.

**~ BGM: The voice someone calls - Persona Q (Extended)**

I was greeted by a completely destroyed wasteland. Pale, dead trees were growing out of the grey soil that was scattered across the landscape. Boulders were floating through the air like they were frozen in time. The sky was black and bleak, making it odd to me why I was able to see in this darkness.

The scene made me sad somehow... I had this strange feeling at the back of my head while I gazed into the wasteland. It seemed... Familiar.

"You okay?" Grovyle's voice asked from behind me, making me turn around.

The grass-type had a concerned look on his face. "Sorry for that... It took the Sableye a little longer to get out of the chamber than I expected them to."

I responded with a sigh and got onto my feet. "It's okay... Your plan worked, didn't it?"

"Could've gone better... Anyway, here's what happened while you were out." Grovyle sighed himself. "Once I couldn't feel the Sableye above us anymore, I dug out Ozu and you... Because you had passed out, we had to carry you out here."

"We're about half and hour away from the tower they kept us in." Ozu continued, pointing at a structure that was noticable far off in the wasteland before me.

"Oh... Thank you, guys." I replied.

"But we're far from save yet. Dusknoir surely has noticed our trick by now and sent his Sableye after us." Grovyle got serious again. "We can have a proper chat, once were farther away from the tower."

He then turned around and pointed at a cave entrance, which could be seen in the cliff the that was next to us.

"This is Chasm Cave. It's a Mystery Dungeon, so it's making it harder for the Sableye to follow us through. We can rest at the foot of a hill that lies near the exit of the cave." the grass-type explained, facing us again. "Are you ready?"

I looked at Ozu who had a sad look on his face. "But... What about...?"

Grovyle interrupted the Chimchar. "We can't let ourselves be distracted by a loss like that... We can talk about her, once we reach the foot of the hills."

The fire-type let his head sink towards the ground. "Okay..."

We followed him into the entrance of the cave and prepared ourselves to enter a Mystery Dungeon.

...

The usual sensation ran through my body when we stepped onto the first floor.

Grey stone walls and a rocky floor made up the structure of the dungeons appearance.

"Stay close to me." Grovyle ordered, leading us into the first hallway.

Chasm Cave was mostly inhabited by rock and ground-types. A couple of bat-like Pokemon appeared on the bigger rooms now and then and a few ghost-types showed up occasionally too.

Grovyle handled most of our confrontations. An image of Ri popped into my head for a moment when he fought just like she used to... Dashing behind the wild Pokemon and dissolving them into the black smoke by slashing through their exposed backs.

Ozu seemed to have noticed it too one time. His head sank towards the ground, making him completely unaware of a Shuppet that had sneaked up behind us.

A quick Thunderbolt from my side disarmed the situation and brought me a thankful smile from my partner.

The dungeons layout was rather complex as it took us longer than usual, to find the staircase on each floor. Other than a couple of traps and wild Pokemon now and then, our progress wasn't hindered by any of the dungeons resistances.

...

After what felt about an hour of exploring, we finally managed to clear the dungeon and found ourselves at the other side of Chasm Cave.

A similar image like on the other side greeted us as the whole landscape was wasted again. The difference was, that we could see a couple of hills not too far away from us.

Pale trees were scattered over the hills, giving the a bit more structure than the dark-grey grass that covered them.

"Do you see that little forest over there?" Grovyle asked, pointing at a group of trees that grew out near the bottom of the nearest hill. "We can hide there for a while."

We walked along a dirt-path ran through the wasteland to get to our destination.

After a while, we had almost reached the forest and left the road. Walking across the destroyed wasteland was quite difficult. We had to climb across floating boulders to bypass the huge ravines that cut through the earth.

**~ Pause music  
**

When we finally arrived at our hiding-spot, Grovyle immediately grabbed a couple of sticks from the ground and piled them up near two logs that were laying on the ground.

"Would you?" he asked, looking at Ozu.

My partner nodded and quickly lit up the small camp-fire with an Ember.

Grovyle took place on one of the logs and pointed at the other one, indicating us to sit down too.

"Alright... Let's talk." the grass-type said after we had taken place on the log.

"I can't believe that Ri is really gone..." Ozu asked in a sad voice.

It resulted in a sad mood and a short moment of silence in our small group.

...

"Were you three close?" Grovyle asked, looking at me.

My eyes locked onto the fire in front of me. "Before we found out that she was your accomplice... Yes."

"Ri was one of those people that cared more for the well-being of their friends than their own..." I began to explain. "I realized that on the second day we spent with her..."

A rough story on how we met the Riolu followed. Ozu and I started with the Expedition and continued with the couple of days we spent in Treasure Town together.

...

"She never backed away from a challenge and liked nothing more than to train at the dojo with us." Ozu continued. "She always had those wise advices whenever we talked about fighting in general."

...

From the topic of training, we got to the topic of actual fights. We told Grovyle about some of the tougher opponents we had to face in the Mystery Dungeons, like the Tranquill from Foggy Forest or the Tyranitar from Quicksand Desert.

...

"Fairness in a fight meant a lot to her. When Uxie set up that illusion of a Groudon, she insisted on fighting it in an one-on-one fight at first." I carried on.

A sigh escaped the grass-type's mouth. "It was the same at Limestone Cavern... Instead of waiting for me, she went ahead alone and beat the guardian of the Time Gear all by herself."

...

Another couple of stories of when we explored together followed. Grovyle returned some of his own.

...

"She was also able to eat a ton of of apples." Ozu continued with a forced smile.

"Heh... Yeah." His comment raised my mood a bit and I responded with a silent chuckle.

Grovyle only responded with a confused look. "Are talking about the way she used to eat apples?"

"Yes... Haha. They were gone in less than a second." Ozu's mood had brightened up a bit.

...

Grovyle began to tell us how he had met Ri. About Treeshroud Forest and their journey to Limestone Cavern. When he told us about a little incident at a sparring match between them, things got a bit more interresting.

"I think that she cried because of an accident showed, how much she cared about others..." the grass-type finished.

'You would be surprised if you knew how much she cared about YOU...'

I knew that Ri had some feelings towards Grovyle but considering that it wouldn't really change anything now, I decided to keep it to myself.

"I think Ri didn't like to cry..." Ozu commented, turning to me. "Remember the day when we were on the beach with her? When I talked with her in private, she was in deep thought all of sudden..."

The Chimchar stopped for a brief moment, his look turning sad again.

"I think that was the day, she realized that she wasn't you... She got angry when she noticed the tears in her eyes."

Grovyle sighed. "I guess she hated to show weakness."

...

After everyone had told his story of how he met the Riolu, we got to the more unpleasant topics.

...

"Do you two remember Underground Lake?" I asked, turning towards the fire once more.

I remembered the blue eyes and the ice-cold look she had one her face that day, sending a shiver down my spine.

The grass-type next to me seemed to be a bit worried when I brought up that topic. "Do you mean how she was covered with stains of blood?"

"Some things were really strange with her... The thing with the blue eyes and that weird symbol on her paw." I replied.

"Blue eyes? Symbol?" Grovyle seemed to have no clue of what I was talking about.

"You haven't noticed the symbol she had on her right paw?" Ozu asked with a surprised look. "It looked exactly like a Time Gear and only showed up whenever she was near one of the gears."

My old partner responded with a surprised look before he folded his arms and put a thoughtful expression on his face.

"A strange symbol that looks like a gear..." he muttered to himself. The grass-type then faced us, unfolding his arm again. "Did she say anything about it?"

"No... Ri didn't know anything about it either. However, she mentioned that she felt dizzy and light headed whenever it appeared on her paw. Chimecho, the nurse of our guild, explained that it had something to do with her aura." Ozu answered.

Grovyle rubbed his chin with his claw and muttered something under his breath before he asked his next question. "And what about her eyes?"

"It happened during our fight with Mesprit... Ri didn't stand a chance against her Psychic-attacks and got easily beaten..." I baled my right paw into a fist when I remembered how the Riolu got slammed into the ground. "When Mesprit fought with us, Ri got back up all of a sudden and just beat her into a pulp... The look she was giving us after she was done was just... Ugh..."

"Ri's eyes were usually red... But when she beat up Mesprit they were blue and she didn't seem to be herself at that moment..." Ozu carried on. "She even told me afterwards that she didn't feel like herself back then."

Grovyle nodded in understanding and put on a thoughtful expression yet again. "Blue eyes... She didn't know anything about them either, right?"

"No..." the Chimchar confirmed.

I was still angry at her for lying to us but didn't want to bring up any more negative topics... Nothing good would've come out, if I had started a discussion about it.

...

It seemed that none of us had anything else to say about her, resulting in a brief moment of silece.

...

"I still can't believe that we'll never see her again." Ozu's voice turned sad again.

Another short moment of silence followed.

"What should we do now?" I asked, trying to get away from the current topic, as it was only getting us depressed by now.

Grovyle cleared his throat. "We need to get back to the past and collect the Time Gears again."

"How are we supposed to travel back in time?" Ozu questioned.

"Well, we have to find Celebi and ask her for help." he answered.

"She's the Pokemon that helped us last time, right?" I threw in.

The grass-type nodded. "Correct. She lives in a forest that lies on the other side of these hills. We need to pass through a couple of ruins in order to get there. It's the fastest way, if we don't want to hike over one of the hills."

"Understood." Ozu and I replied.

"But we have to be careful... Dusknoir's men could already be on our trail. The ruins we will pass through also house a lot of ghost-types, making most of our physical attacks useless." Grovyle warned. "I think we had a long enough break anyway... Once we're through those ruins we will set up another camp and get some sleep. We can talk some more there."

"Alright." we returned, getting up from the log we were sitting on.

The grass-type did the same and put out our small fire by shoving some soil onto it.

"Let's go." he said, turning towards the opening we came from.

**~ Continue music**

The hills that laid between us and our destination had a small opening between two of them. I could make out a couple of crumbled structutes in the distance when we had just left the forest.

The three of us had to traverse through the destroyed wasteland again. Like before, we crawled over the floating boulders in order to cross the many ravines that ran through the landscape.

After a short struggle, we finally reached our next destination and found ourselves in front of a set of half-destoyed building. Crumbled brick-walls and broken stone-pillars were scattered across the new scenery in front of us.

Grovyle stopped in front of an archway that ran over two crumbled walls. It kind of looked like an entrance.

"Once we go further than this, we will be in a Mystery Dungeon again... Riley, Ozu... I need you both to keep any ghost-types we might come across away from us with your special attacks. We will just rush through this one, so you don't actually have to knock them out. Just buy us some time to find the stairs." he explained.

My partner and I nodded in understanding and followed the grass-type, who was walking through the archway.

I felt light headed for a moment and my vision turned blurry when we entered the dungeon. The scenery that had been in front of us, had completely changed all of a sudden. Looking behind me revealed, that a grey brick wall was blocking the 'doorway' through which we entered the dungeon.

"Come on, let's go." Grovyle said, heading a hallway.

Ozu quickly followed the grass-type and prepared ourselves for any confrontations we might have with the illusionary Pokemon of the dungeon.

We kept our eyes and ears open while we cautiously cleared the many floor of the dungeon. Grovyle managed go lead us into the 'stairway-room' without having to fight a single Pokemon a couple of times.

He seemed to know which direction was dangerous and which one safe somehow.

Because of that, we didn't have any trouble with the ghost-types he had warned us about.

After about an hour of exploring we left the final floor and found ourselves at the exit of the dungeon. Another set of broken stone-pillars and destroyed walls was scattered across the stone floor in front of us.

When I turned around, I noticed something strange. The archway had walked trough was about one-hundred meters away from us. If it wouldn't have been for the dungeon, the three of us only would have had to walk straight through the ruins.

'I will never understand these Mystery Dungeons...'

We were already walking towards the wasteland that started at the end of the ruins, when Grovyle spoke up again.

"Do you see the forest in the distance?" he asked from my right, pointing at the landscape that could be seen between the two hills that were to our left and right.

"That's where Celebi lives, right?" Ozu asked from my left.

"Yes. We will set up our camp at the border of the forest. There's another Mystery Dungeon in there so we should be careful not to walk in too far." the grass-type replied.

"Ehm... I know that we wanted to talk later but how did we actually get the idea to ask Celebi for help the first time?" I couldn't help myself and asked.

He was a bit absent for a moment when before a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Well, I had met her before you came to this-"

**~ Switch music: That witch escaped the darkness - Persona 3 (Extended)**

Grovyle tripped and fell onto his face all of a sudden. "Ngh!"

While I turned around to see what was the cause for his fall, I felt how something grabbed onto my right leg, making me wander towards the ground too. "Agh!"

"Whoa, are you two okay?!" Ozu yelled, turning to us.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt how an invisible force began to crawl over my body. When I tried to push myself up with my hands, the strange sensation had already reached my face. A strange purple energy was covering my arms while I felt how something began to crawl into my nose and mouth.

'What...'

The force was invading my body in a rather unpleasant and painful way, almost making me throw up while it pushed itself down my throat.

I couldn't even make the slightest sound while my body fell back onto the stone floor.

At the right edge of my vision, I could see that my old partner was covered in the same purple energy, I was, meaning that whoever was the cause of this had gotten him too.

"Riley, Grovyle! What's wrong?!" the Chimchar, that was now kneeling down in front of me, asked with a shocked look on his face.

I tried to respond and move my body but this pressing feeling that was now flowing through my whole body kept me from moving a single muscle.

'Ugh... What is this?! It... It's moving around inside of me...'

"G-get up! Please!" Ozu pleaded, shake my motionless body.

Suddenly an eerie chuckle echoed through the air.

"Hehehe... Look who's stumbled into our home." a voice said, letting out another dreadful laugh. It sounded strange. As if many people were talking at once, saying the exact same words.

My partner jumped a bit and got back onto his feet. He looked around hectically, scanning the area for the source of the madman-like laughter.

"Too bad we can only possess two people at once... Now we have to take care of the last one in the old fashioned way." whoever it was, continued.

Ozu eyes widened when he looked over Grovyle and me. The source of the voice must have been behind us.

"W-who are you? Why did you attack us?" the Chimchar asked.

"Who we are doesn't matter. What does matter is that you invaded our home and that you have to pay the price for it now." the voice replied with yet another chuckle.

Ozu took one step back. "B-but we don't mean any harm! We were just passing through!"

"We don't care. Everybody that sets a foot into our ruins has to pay with his life." it carried on.

The fire-type took another step back. "Y-you w-want to kill us?"

This time, the voice didn't reply. Instead, I could feel how some kind of evil energy gathered behind me.

Ozu jumped to his right side all of sudden, dodging a projectile of black and purple energy that was flying over my head.

A small explosion was created when the Shadow Ball made contact with the grey stone floor.

I was finally able to make out the idendity of our attacker, when a ghostly figure floated between Grovyle and me.

It was a Spiritomb. An odd stone was dragging behind the purple 'aura' that made out its body. Green lines drew a ghastly 'face' onto the creature.

"Hehehe... What's wrong?" the ghost-type asked, noticing that my partner's whole body was shaking in fear. "Does our Pressure give you troubles?"

With another chuckle, the Spiritomb seemed to radiate an invisible force around itself. The pressing feeling inside of my body got joined by a sensation that made me feel twice as heavy than before, slightly pushing the air out of my lungs.

Ozu was notiably affected by the ghost-type's 'aura' as well. His breathing became heavy and his knees gave in, a bit.

His opponent shot off another Shadow Ball, making my partner scream while he jumped out of the away. Another explosion was set off on impact, sending a cloud of dust across the ruins.

The Chimchar tripped when he landed and fell onto his backside while his wide open eyes fixed onto the ghost-type in front of him.

I tried to move but none of the signals I was sending to my body reached their destinations as my muscles didn't even twitch. The Spiritomb had me completely paralized.

"O...zu." I managed to bring out with a struggle.

The fire-type slowly crawled backwards while his opponent floated closer to him, the bizarre 'face' of the Pokemon growing in size.

"Too scared to speak again?" It had a wide grin on its face.

Ozu gasped when his back made contact with a brick-wall that stood behind him. A broken pillar and another wall blocked his left and right, meaning that he had no way to escape the opponent in front of him.

"Don't you want to save your friends?" the Spiritomb asked with a chuckle.

My partner slowly got onto his feet again and pressed his back against the wall. His whole body was shaking in fear and his eyes had a look of pure terror in them.

'No... This is not good. It's his fear again...'

I knew this look. It was the same he had on his face at Underground Lake, when he was the only thing between Grovyle and the Time Gear. But that wasn't the first time. He also had that look when Zubat and Koffing stole his relic-fragment and when we faced Drowzee.

"Hehehe, he can't bring out a single word! What a pity! We would've given you a quick and painless death if it wasn't for that coward." the ghost-type said with an evil laugh.

"C-coward?" Ozu finally rose his voice again.

...

Suddenly, something was different about him. The shocked looked on his face was gone and replaced with one that indicated that he was in deep thought.

"Ohoho, finally able to talk again?" his opponent responded.

My partner let his head sink towards the ground, hiding his eyes from us.

...

**~ Switch music:**** I'll face myself (Reincarnation) - Persona 4 Golden**

"I'm not." Ozu replied.

...

"What?" the Spiritomb asked.

"A coward doesn't even try to overcome his fears..." my partner explained. "All I have to do it to become strong enough to beat my opponent and my fears."

'Where... Where did that come from? His fear is like blown away.'

"I can't prevent that I might get hurt in this fight..." he continued. "However... I can lower the chance of it..."

...

A faint smile formed by his mouth. "She taught me that..."

The Chimchar rose his head and faced the Spiritomb again. He then put his right hand up to his mouth, his now determined look locked with his opponent's.

...

"Please work..." he said to himself, digging his teeth into his own hand.

The fire-type grimaced while he bit into his flesh. At first, nothing happened and a confused look wandered onto his opponent face.

Suddenly the flame on his backside flared up and began to grow in size. He opened his mouth and brought his hand down again. A few droplets of blood were already dripping down from his wound, while the fire spreaded onto his back.

'He... He's blazing! How did he...?'

It was the same when we were fighting Drowzee. Only difference was that his Blaze activated on its own, from the injuries of the fight and not on his own accord.

"What are you talking about?!" The Spiritomb shot out a Dark Pulse attack into Ozu's direction.

My partner spat out a fireball to counter. The attacks hit each other, resulting in a small explosion before they dissolved into the air.

"W-wha...?!" the ghost-type was quite shocked by Ozu change in attitude.

"I'm not done yet..." The flames on Ozu back began to crawl over his body, completely engulfing the fire-type. A hull of flames was now covering his body, giving him a rather threatening look.

With a battle-cry, the burning Chimchar dashed forward, shooting out a stream of fire from his back to increase his speed. The Spiritomb sent another wave of dark energy at my partner, attempting to stop him from his assault. Ozu created new streams of fire in each of his hands, giving him more control over his charge and the ability to easily dodge the Dark Pulse. He simply hopped into the air a bit and held his right hand to his right, pushing him out of harms way.

When he was in reach, he covered his already burning fists with even more flames and began to attack the ghost-type with a series of swift Fire Punches. None of his attacks were able to make contact with the bizarre face of his opponent, as it was deforming and bending its 'body' in order to dodge his punches. The fire-type immediately noticed that physical attacks weren't very effective, making him change his strategy and go for another approach.

He quickly jumped back a bit and inhaled deeply while the ghost-type in front of him was just giving its face its original form back.

With another battle-cry he shot out a huge Flamethrower, sending a wave of flames into the ghosts direction. Ozu's opponent was engulfed by the flames and didn't even scream.

The burning figure that was my partner, turned around all of a sudden, covering his fist in more fire in the process. The purple energy that made up the Spiritomb jumped out of the ground behind him. It had used Shadow Sneak to slide underneath Ozu's attack and get behind him. However, when it's face had just formed its normal form again, it was greeted by a Fire Punch.

The ghost-type was sent flying while the fire between Ozu and his opponent busted into the air. My partner was pushed back a bit from the explosion, while the Spiritomb crashed into a stone-pillar. It grunted in pain and slowly floated towards Ozu again, who was already going for his next attack.

He spat out another fireball at the ghost-type and immediately dashed behind it with his Flame Charge. His opponent quickly dodged the fireball and flew to its right, making Ozu's attack hit the pillar that had been behind the Spiritomb. The ghost gasped when my partner was already in front of his face again when the explosion behind him was set off.

The fire-type threw another Fire Punch at his opponent. It was dodged again, as the ghost was deforming its body like it had done before.

I could hear a curse underneath the flames that covered my partner.

Ozu jumped back a bit and shot another fireball at the Spiritomb, who was simply melting into a shadow again to dodge the flames. It reappeared behind my partner again, who had already turned around and shot another fire-attack at his opponent.

This time, the ghost-type went for a counter and dissolved the fireball with a Shadow Ball. Another explosion stirred up even more dust into the air, occupying my vision on the fight.

Streams of fire and dark energy shot out of the cloud. I was able to hear scream from the Spiritomb's twisted voice and sounds of another explosion while the dust slowly faded.

Ozu was still covered in flames... His opponent seemed to be in pain. The ghost-type was panting and had its left eye closed, meaning that my partner must've dealt some damage.

"Gaaah! Why don't you just quit?" A lot of energy began to radiate from the Spiritomb. "Just die already!"

The ghost opened its mouth and formed a huge Shadow Ball in front of its face, ready to launch it at my partner.

Ozu focused on his own attack. The flames around his body flared up and I could feel a tense pressure from him. Blue flames stirred up around him and flowed into the fire that already covered him.

When they were ready, both of them unleashed their attacks. The ghost-type shoot off its Shadow Ball and Ozu dashed forwards, directly at his opponent. He dodged the purple and black projectile by using another Flame Charge and got right in front of the Spiritomb. He then lunged his whole blazing body into the Pokemon, creating a huge explosion upon impact that sent both of them flying.

The flames around Ozu disappeared when he landed on his back with a grunt of pain. The Spritomb got thrown into another pillar and landed on its 'face'.

Another explosion sent a cloud of dust over the field when the ghost-type's attack made contact with the ground.

My partner got back onto his feet, clutching his right shoulder with his left hand. He was covered in bruises, panted hard and had his right eye closed. The flame on his backside had grown back to its original size.

'Why is he so beat up all of a sudden? He didn't get hit by any attack... Right?'

The Spiritomb slowly rose its 'head' again. It was also panting and still had its eye closed. "Gah...gah... Why..."

The ghost-type let out one last grunt before it fell back down to the ground.

**~ Stop music**

My chest felt lighter all of a sudden. The energy that stirred around inside of me seemed to seek its way out again as a sick feeling welled up in my stomach. Again, the energy pushed itself through my throat in a rather unpleasant way.

I coughed when a cloud of purple smoke left my mouth and slowly floated towards the Spiritomb. The purple aura around my body did the same and wandered back to its sender. The ghost-type's body compressed itself and flowed into the odd stone it was attached to.

Finally able to move my body again, I clutched my still sore throat and coughed a bit more. *cough* "You... You did it..."

Grovyle was able to move again too and had already gotten back to his feet.

I rose my head and looked at my partner who's eyes were still locked onto the stone in front of him.

Getting onto my own feet, I immediately ran up to my partner. "Ozu! You were amazing!"

The Chimchar was still panting and had a bleak look on his face when his eyes met mine. "I... I did it?"

"We should have been more cautious." Grovyle said behind me. The grass-type had walked up to the remainings of Ozu's opponent and picked the stone up from the ground. He then threw it into air, deeper into the ruins.

"I think we won't see that thing again." he continued, facing me and my partner again.

When I turned around to look at Ozu again, I noticed that his right hand had a bite mark and a slim trail of blood on it.

"What have you done?" I almost yelled at him, grabbing his wounded hand.

He didn't even move an inch while I inspected the two holes his insicors left.

"I'm... Sorry..." he panted, making me rise my head again.

My eyes widened when the Chimchar's head moved closer to mine. His eyes were pale and lifeless and the flames on his backside was fading, indicating that he had lost consciousness. His body was giving up on him, making his face fall right onto mine.

I couldn't even react while the fire-type's lips brushed against mine.

'Wha...'

With wide opened eyes, I caught my partner. Ozu's head was now resting on my right shoulder, his right cheek pressed against my left one.

I couldn't help myself and feel my cheeks turn hot while I embraced his body, my mind still processing what had just happened.

'Wa... Was that a kiss? I... What?'

"What wrong?" Grovyle asked from behind me, making me jump a bit.

"Huh? What?" I turned my head to the side to see a confused look on the grass-type's face.

"Is he okay?" my old partner asked.

His question blew away all my thoughts of the awkward situation and made me focus on what was important.

"N-no! He has passed out!" I replied, showing Grovyle the unconscious Pokemon in my arms.

The Grovyle responded with a concerned look. "It's no wonder... He used a Flare Blitz to knock that Spiritomb out."

"What should we do?!" I questioned in a worried tone.

"Well, he's probably just exhausted. A bit of sleep and he should be fine again." he explained. "Come here, I'll carry him."

He then grabbed the unconscious Chimchar out of my arms and put him onto his back. Grovyle put the fire-type's arms in front of him, holding them down so the Pokemon couldn't fall off.

"Come on, Riley." he said, heading towards an archway that lead into the wasteland.

I stopped for a moment before I followed them, putting my paw onto my lips.

'I can't believe this really happened...'

* * *

**End of Chapter - 28**


	29. The naive martial artist

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 29 - The naive martial artist**

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

The awareness of body returned and brought a soreness in all of my muscles with it when I began to wake up again. My head hurt like hell and bringing up a proper thought wasn't possible. Firstly, because all of my senses were dulled by constant signals of pain and secondly, because the drowsiness of my slumber was still keeping my mind from clearing up.

After a while, I finally became used to the soreness and the first proper thought floated through my head.

'Ugh... What happened?'

With a grunt of pain I opened my eyes and exposed them to a blinding light, making me raise my right arm to shield them from the incoming sunlight. Another grunt escaped my mouth doing so.

My sight finally cleared up after my eyes had adjusted themselves. Putting my arm down again, I became aware of the fact that I was laying on my back.

A blue sky was greeting me while I noticed something soft, brushing against the fur I was laying on. By the smells that entered my nostrils, I could tell that I was somewhere inside of a forest. Meaning that my body was probably rested on grass.

I could also make out a couple of tree tops at the edge of my view, only strengthening my guess.

It got confirmed when I rose my body into a sitting position and tilted my head to my left, letting out yet another grunt. Finally able to properly make out my surroundings, I began to inspect the location.

A big circular patch of soil was placed at a clearing that was surrounded by trees and bushes. In its middle, was a set up, unlit fire-pit. A couple of wooden logs were placed around the small pit, acting as sitting opportunities.

'Huh? How did I...?'

Before I could complete that question, my mind shot out the last events I remembered before I had lost consciousness. My view wandered onto the ground in front of me while the scene replayed itself in my head.

'Right... I tried to use an Aura Sphere after that memory shred. Ugh... I wonder if Cobal is okay.'

That thought made me rise my head and look around the clearing again. There was not a trace of the Lucario, worrying me a bit.

Turning to my right, I noticed that a sword was leaning against a tree that stood right next to me. Next to it was the rest of my equipment.

Looking at my gear made me wonder how it had gotten off of my body, making me properly inspect myself. Other than a couple of darker spots on my cream-colored fur, bandages around my upper chest and right arm and a constant soreness under those pieces of cloth, I was completely fine.

Getting up from the grassy floor, I stretched my aching muscles a bit while I still kept an eye out for my friend.

'Ugh... Where is he?'

After I walked to the gear that was laying under the tree that had been behind me, I picked up my belt and tied it around my hip. Grovyle's pouch got attached to my right upper leg like usual.

A frown could be seen on my face when I picked up my broken piece of armor. The right shoulder-plate had a huge dent in it and was covered with black stains. The leather-bands attached to it were completely ripped apart.

'Great... It's completely ruined. I guess I owe Cobal a set of shoulder-plates now.'

Placing them back onto the ground, I picked up my blue scarf and tied around my neck, letting the remaining piece of cloth fall behind me like a cape.

I frowned yet again when I looked at the gold-decorated sword in front of me. Grabbing the fake weapon with my right, bandaged hand, I inspected the dull blade for a moment.

After I turned towards the middle of the clearing again, I wondered why I should still wear this thing.

Probably out of curiosity, I swung the blade through the air in front of me.

From that first swing, my instinct told me to keep going. Putting my left arm onto the hilt aswell, I continued with another slash. Somewhere in my muscle memory was the knowledge on how to use a sword.

When I slowly put my right foot in front of me after a third swing and held my weapon forward like a kendo-fighter, a strange feeling rushed through my head.

I had used some kind of sword-style during my fight with Riley, back at Crystal Cave. One of my bones had served as a sword but I only got to use it to defend myself from her Iron Tail attacks. The stance had been the same...

But that wasn't the first time... I had learned to fight like this from somewhere.

'Right, I have-'

"Ngh!" A jolt of pain shot through my brain when another memory entered my mind.

* * *

_"You want to challenge me to a match?" A brown haired human teen in a black kendo-outfit asked._

_I was somewhere inside a building. The walls and floor were made of wooden planks. A couple of wooden dummies were placed on the other side of the room and other kendo-fighters were standing behind the boy in front of me._

_"Yup! I heard you won your last five tournaments, so I wanted to see what you were all about," my voice, replied. "You seem pretty strong, I would love to fight you!"_

_"Well, I accept. Do have your own equipment with you or do you want to borrow a sword from our club?" he questioned._

_"Uhm... Actually... Do I really have to use one of those wooden sticks? Why don't we just fight sword against fist?" I returned._

_The kendo-fighter seemed to be shocked. "W-what?"_

_"I don't actually train your sport... I just want to see if I could beat your style with mine," I responded._

_"Are you joking?" He was completely perplexed now._

_"Nope," my voice chuckled._

_"Errr... I... I'm sorry but I can't fight an unarmed opponent." the teen explained._

_"Fine! Give me one of your swords," I exclaimed. "If that's what it takes to have a battle with you... But, hey! I might pick something up from our fight!"_

_ My opponent sweatdropped. "I'm sorry... Who are you again?"_

_"Me? Well, I'm-"_

* * *

The memory ended abruptly with the flickering of a TV that had no signal.

Still holding my sword in my right hand, I stood almost in the middle of the clearing, clutching my aching head with my left paw.

'Ugh... I... I was human in that memory. That... That was Kendo... Did I learn these movements from the battle I had with that guy? I guess I really want to challenge every strong Pokemon I come across because I used to be into martial-arts as a human... And what was that last part? Dammit, I can't remember properly...'

Looking at how I was holding the gold-decorated sword gave me yet another strange feeling. I had held the weapon before but the knowledge of my experience with a sword-art changed my view on it all of a sudden.

'This... It almost looks li-'

"Agh!" A blurry, flickering picture appeared in front of my eyes for a split second as another wave of pain shot through my brain.

...

_My black hand was replaced by by a blue one while the sword in it changed into a strange white stream of energy that shot out of my paw like a blade._

_..._

My sword slipped out of my hand while I brought my right paw up to my head, falling down to my knees in the process. My eyes were shut tight while I was down, waiting for the pain to fade and my composure to return to me.

"Ri! Are you okay?!" Cobal's voice called out from my left.

I could feel how something grabbed onto my shoulder before the headache finally faded and I was able to open my eyes again.

"What happened?" A worried looking Lucario greeted me when I turned to the source of the voice.

Still a little dazed, I blinked a couple of times and tried to clear up my mind before I answered to Cobal. "C-cobal? I..."

"Are you okay?" he interrupted me with a voice filled of concern.

I brought my paws down to my thighs and nodded. "I-I'm alright. I just had these two memory shreds and... Uhm... Yeah... Other than that I'm fine."

His worry didn't fade while he got up and put his paw off my shoulder, offering his other one to lift me from the ground.

"Thank you." I thankfully accepted his paw and the Lucario pulled me up onto my feet again.

"Alright... It's quite a good timing for you to wake up now. I just finished collecting some apples. We could have a proper talk during lunch... Are you okay with that?" Cobal offered, holding his arm towards the logs that were placed around the fire-pit.

After grabbing my sword from the ground, I followed the fighting-type and sat down onto one of the 'benches'. While I was leaning my weapon against the log, the Lucario pulled out two red apples from the slightly bigger pouch on his belt and held one of them out to me.

I grabbed the fruit and gave my friend a smile.

"Alright then," Cobal started while I bit the first bite out of my apples. "Do you want to talk about the memories first or about the incident during our match?"

After I had swallowed the first piece of fruit, I answered. "There isn't much I can tell you about the memory shreds I just had... In one of them I was a human. I challenged someone from a kendo-club and-"

I stopped when I noticed Cobal's confused expression.

"Oh, sorry. Kendo is a martial-art from the human world that focuses on sword-fighting," I explained. "I didn't even train that sport and still challenged him. I guess I used to be crazy like that."

A chuckle escaped my mouth when I connected this trait of mine with the events that happened since I woke up at Treeshroud Forest. Things like challenging Wigglytuff while I was still injured came to my mind. "I kind of still am."

He seemed to have a question but simply nodded and let me return where I had left off. "Uhm... The second shred came immediately after the first one."

I stopped there for a moment and tried to remember the picture that had flickered through my mind.

"It wasn't like usual... I saw a flickering image in front of me all of a sudden," I continued.

"Hm? What did it show you?" Cobal asked curiously.

"A blue paw and some weird beam of aura that looked almost like a sword," I answered. As soon as I told him about the blue paw, I remembered the other memory shred I had, before I had lost consciousness.

"Now that I think about it, I have seen a blue paw in my memory about the Aura Sphere too," I added, taking another bite out of my apple and waiting for the Lucario's answer.

He folded his arms, still holding his apple in his left hand and looked like he was in deep thought for a moment.

"A blue paw... This would mean that those memories are from when you still were a Riolu. Considering that you are a Brute Breed, we can say that it was possible for you to learn Aura Sphere in that form," he said, unfolding his arms again.

"But why didn't it work then?" I questioned in a disappointed tone.

"Here's the thing... You might have remembered your training for the move but you are still very far away from mastering it," Cobal replied.

"What? Why?" I was a bit surprised now.

"You didn't properly control the input of aura and left out the part where you control the rotation completely. The shape of the sphere was good but other than that, it was horrible," he explained.

"Uhm... I just mimicked what I have seen in my memory so I have no idea what you are talking about," I responded, feeling a little embarrassed.

The Lucario nodded to himself, probably being satisfied that his assumption was correct. "The summoning of an Aura Sphere has three major part in it. Input, shape and rotation. The user has to pour his aura into the sphere in a steady pace, controlling the shape of the sphere in the process. But at the same time, he has to balance out the rotating energy inside of it with the stream of inflowing aura. Only when these three factors are in balance, he can summon a proper Aura Sphere."

I processed the information and asked the first question that came to my mind. "Can you show me how it's done, then?"

The Lucario shook his head. Just as I saw him do that, I began to feel disappointed.

"I'm sorry but there isn't much more I can teach you about it. You have to figure out a way to balance the three factors on your own. I could try tp give you a few tips but other than that..." the fighting-type explained. "Anyway, what exactly did you mean with 'beam of aura' in the second memory?"

I shrugged off the feeling of disappointment and thought about the image again. "I'm not sure... Something like a blade of aura was streaming out of my hand. It looked just like I was holding a sword."

"Can you try to do something like that?" he asked.

"Hmm... Okay, let's try it," I said, quickly finishing the apple in my paw and grabbing the sword that was next to me.

After I had thrown the core into the fire-pit in front of me and put my weapon through the holster on my belt, I got up from the log and created some distance between me and the campfire. Cobal had gotten up too and just finished his apple while he joined me.

"Uhm... Here goes nothing." I tensed up and got into the stance of a kendo-fighter, without actually holding a weapon.

I concentrated my aura into my paws and focused on the image I had seen in front of me. The blue 'flames' that radiated around my hands listened to my commands when I tried to form a stream of energy with them.

Somewhat surprised, I focused them into a thin stream that shot out like I was holding a sword.

When I saw the beam of aura that was forming in my hands, a familiar feeling came over me. It felt happy and confident for some reason. Suddenly, controlling the stream became much easier and the wide beam compressed into a dense 'blade' of aura.

"It's working!" I cheered, eyes fixed on the light-blue 'sword'.

"I should have figured that the Spirit of Faith knows a lot of unique moves but summoning a Sacred Sword in this manner even surprises me," the Lucario next to me commented.

"Sacred Sword?" I repeated, giving him a confused look.

The knight nodded. "Yeah, it's a move that is especially effective against dark-types. I have learned it myself but I'm not quite sure if it's practical to use it like you do."

My head tilted to the side and my look turned even more confused. "Huh? What's wrong with it?"

"Please dissolve the blade, I don't want you to black out again," the knight said, startling me a bit.

"Black out again?" I lost the focus on my move, making the blue aura fade into the air while I got into a normal stance again.

"Will it explode too?" I asked with a worried voice.

Cobal actually laughed at this. "No, no, don't worry about that with this move! The way you use it simply uses up a ton of aura as you might notice."

I actually felt a little drained, now that he mentioned it. "Oh, alright... But this move... Could it actually cut somebody? Because if it does, then I won't use it."

My friend responded by shaking his head. "I assume that it would not. When I use this move, I cover my actual sword with my aura. That just leads to an added effect on my attacks that gives me an advantage over dark-types."

I was relieved that my new move most likely could not cause any life threatening wounds. But the way he explained his way to use the move brought up some questions.

"Uhm... How exactly does aura increase the effectiveness on dark-types?" I asked, actually getting curious.

"What did you feel when you created your Sacred Sword?" the knight returned.

"What I felt...?" His question perplexed me a bit. "Uhm... I'm not sure... It was familiar somehow. I felt happy, confident and-"

A confused look wandered onto my face. "... Uhm... Good. It was like I was pouring those feelings into my aura."

Cobal smirked and nodded. "That's right. So what you're saying is that you put this positive energy into your aura."

"Yeah, you could say that," I confirmed.

"Dark-types draw they power from bad emotions like anger, hate and fear. Their aura has traces of negative energy inside of it, meaning that you can attack their negativity with your positive energy," he continued. "However, if you can't bring up any of those positive feelings, you might not be able to create a proper Sacred Sword... So be careful with that."

I nodded. "Okay... Uhm... I now understand how your version works... But how exactly would mine work?"

"Probably exactly the same as mine, only without leaving any cuts on your foes. A dense beam of aura can disrupt your opponents aura and stagger them for a while. I'm not completely sure but I assume that it won't lead to any lethal effects," the Lucario answered. "Against a dark-type, this version might be devastating as your blade is completely made out of the positive energy. But I recommend against using it without knowing the exact capabilities of the attack... You could try it once we have the Time Gear."

"Oh... Okay." I nodded in agreement. We couldn't really afford to waste much time so I decided that the smartest thing to do would be to try out my new abilities while we travelled to the next Time Gear.

Now that we had finally finished those topic, I finally asked a question that was on my mind ever since I had woken up again.

"So... Where exactly are we?" I questioned, inspecting the clearing again. Somehow it felt familiar to me.

Cobal seemed to feel a bit uneasy for some reason. "Well, we are at the border to Foggy Forest..."

'Wait a second... This is where the guild had set up our camp at the Expedition!' I realized, remembering the short time I spent at this camp.

Thinking about Riley and Ozu again, made me feel kind of depressed. A sigh escaped my mouth before my eyes caught a glimpse of my broken armor that way laying on the side of the clearing.

Feeling a bit embarrassed now, I gave the knight in front of me an apologetic look. "Uhm... Cobal... I kind of broke the the armor you gave me with that Aura Sphere. So... Uhm... Sorry."

The knight jumped a bit to this and looked embarrassed himself for some reason. "Ehm... Don't mention it! It's me who should be sorry! I didn't want do it but I had to undress you to bandage up your chest."

It wasn't before he mentioned it that I realized how my equipment had gone off of my body.

'So it was him who took off my gear and put those bandages on me... I should've figured... But why does he feel so embarrassed about it? He only touched my che-'

I couldn't help myself and turn red a bit when I realized how this must have looked like. I might have been a Pokemon but I still felt quite uncomfortable, knowing that he had his hands on my chest.

"Uhm... I-it's okay! Y-you had to fix me up after all!" I responded, trying to get away from that topic.

"It's just that-" he stopped himself before he could make this more awkward. "Let's just forget about it and focus on the task at hand!"

"Okay, let's get going then," I replied, turning towards the opening that led into Foggy Forest.

The Lucario quickly followed me and we walked deeper into the forest that would lead to Fogbound Lake.

...

Unlike last time I was in this forest, the fog was completely gone. On the Expedition, my friends and I had some trouble because of our restricted view but now that the secret of the lake had been solved, the fog all around the area had cleared up.

I was able to see the goblet-shaped rock formation that stood in the middle of the forest through the tree-tops while Cobal and I headed closer into not so foggy Foggy Forest.

* * *

Something strange happened when the usual 'dungeon-feeling' rushed over my body. All of a sudden, the whole scenery changed and my vision was occupied by a dense fog. The trees had turned into actual walls made of wood. A couple of openings were noticable at some spots of the walls.

"W-what?" I gasped, looking around the now fog filled woods.

Cobal joined my side and seemed to be just as surprised as I was when he noticed the changes.

"But we solved the secret of the lake! The fog should be gone..." I turned to the Lucario, giving him a confused look.

"Dungeons are distortions in space... Maybe changes in the outside world don't affect them?" he theorized.

This was a possibility. Grovyle had mentioned something like this while he explained the priciple of Mystery Dungeons to me.

"Anyway... Should I take the lead or...?" I asked getting back on track.

"If you want to lead, no problem!" Cobal replied with a smile.

"Alright... Follow me then," I said, turning towards an opening.

Something caught my attention while I headed towards the first corridor. Right next to the opening I noticed a single berry one the floor. "Look, it's an Oran Berry!" I recognized the berry by the blue color and walked up to the item. Bending down to pick it up, I opened one of the pouches one my belt and placed it inside before my gaze fell back onto the corridor next to me.

"N-now that I think about it, it probably would be better if I go in front! You're still injured so I will take care of any wild Pokemon," he said in a strangely embarrassed tone as he quickly walked past me and into the hallway. The Lucario was holding his nose with his right paw for some reason.

An expression of confusion wandered on my face while I wondered why he was acting so strange all of a sudden.

Shaking off the weird feeling, I followed him deeper into the floor of the dungeon.

...

Just like the last time I had been to Foggy Forest, we mostly had to face grass and flying-types. Cobal and me were pretty much resistant to those types. Now that I was a Lucario, bird Pokemon didn't cause me any trouble at all. Their wind based attacks weren't even able to leave a scratch on me anymore. This left me very thankful to my new steel-typing while we cleared floor after floor.

Cobal dealt with most of the wild Pokemon by slashing them down with his sword. I couldn't help myself and feel a bit uneasy while I saw how the wild Pokemon literally busted into black smoke when the Lucario stabbed them with his weapon.

This was the actually the first time I saw how the knight used his blade. His way to approach his enemies resembled Grovyle's somehow. The Lucario got into reach with Extreme Speed and defeated his foes by slashing at their weak-points.

Traversing through the dungeon wasn't really hard. None of the feral Pokemon were giving us trouble and its layout was pretty simple. We found the staircase only after one or two room on every floor.

After about fifteen minutes of exploring, we reached the last set of stairs and left the dungeon.

* * *

Outside of the dungeon, we were greeted by a similar scenery from before we entered it.

In front of us was a path that lead to the great rock-formation called Fogbound Lake. The sky was still clear and blue and green trees were littered across the sides of the pathway.

However, the position of the sun indicated that a couple of hours had passed while we explored Foggy Forest. At first it was a bit strange to me but everything cleared up when I remembered that this was an possibility after clearing a Mystery Dungeon.

When I closer inspected the goblet shaped rock that was standing in the distance in front of us, I noticed another strange thing. It was completely grey and colorless. No blue from the waterfalls that ran down the sides of the structure. No green from the trees that were growing around its foot.

Time around Fogbound Lake had stopped.

"We're almost there,"I said, trying to start a conversation while we walked towards the lake.

Cobal faced me. "So there supposed to be a lake up there, right? How exactly did you get up there at your Expedition?"

I had left out that part of my story. "Right, I didn't tell you! Well, there's a cave at the bottom of the lake. Steam Cave, I think. My friends and I went through it and came out at the top of the rock."

"I see, Steam Cave... Is it true that a lot of fi-"

He stopped all of sudden and tensed up while his view wandered in front of us.

With a somewhat worried look, I did the same and looked at the path before us.

...

There was nothing.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Someone's coming," Cobal said, facing me again.

At first I was confused and didn't know how he could've known something like this but as soon as I remembered his ability to sense aura, it made sense to me again.

When I focused on the path in front of us again, I noticed that some bushes on the right side of the pathway were rustling.

Tensing up again, my eyes fixed onto the source of the noise and waited for whatever might come out of it.

A Kirlia stepped onto the path, the Pokemon's gaze locked onto the ground in front of it.

A white scarf was tied around its neck, the remaining pieces of cloth hanging down behind it like a pair of streamers. Above the scarf, a red headband was on its neck, hanging down onto the upper part of its chest.

For some reason, I could tell that this was a Muscle Band, a popular item among fighting-types. What this piece of equipment was doing on a Kirlia was a mystery to me though.

The Pokemon was startled when it noticed Cobal and me.

"Whoa!" it almost yelled, jumping a bit. The voice was female.

Before I could even turn to my partner and ask him on what to do, the Kirlia put a smile on her face and slowly walked towards us.

"Hi, there!" she greeted.

"Uhm... Hello," I returned, relaxing myself again.

"What are two knights doing here?" the psychic-type asked when she reached us.

Her stance was a bit unusual for a Kirlia. Somehow I knew that her species normally had the graceful stance of a ballerina. This Pokemon's posture looked more casual and... a little sassy.

"Actually, only he's a knight," I corrected.

"Wow! I've never seen an actual knight before!" The Kirlia focused her eyes on Cobal, giving him a mischievous smirk. "Not to mention that this one is quite handsome."

"H-handsome?" The Lucario was caught off guard by her flirt and turned red a bit.

She chuckled to his reaction. "Could it be that you are a prince that came here to claim his princess?" she asked, winking at him.

"W-wha..." He was speechless.

I could only watch with a confused look on my face while Cobal tried to regain his composure. This Kirlia had him completely stunned with two sentences.

"Or does he already have one?" the psychic-type asked, turning to me.

Now it was me, who was caught off guard.

"What? No! He's like ten years older than me! Also I-" I stopped myself before I could blurt out the fact that I was a human. "... Uhm... We have only known each other for a couple of days."

"Hahaha! Sorry, just wanted to make sure!" the Kirlia beamed at us. "By the way, I'm Celsius!"

I took a quick glance at Cobal who had already turned normal again, giving him a determined look. This was quite a risky situation after all. Giving her my real name could have lead to some negative consequences but I decided to tell her my name anyway. I was done with lying.

"I'm Ri!" I replied, giving her a somewhat forced smile.

At first, she seemed to be a bit confused and gave me a closer look. Her eyes narrowed while she inspected me and widened again when she noticed my burnt arm.

"What happened to your arm?" the psychic-type asked with a shocked face.

I was getting a bit angry by her stare but stayed calm and gave her an answer. "It's a bit complicated... I would prefer if you just ignored it, your staring is a bit unpleasant."

"But it looks pretty cool! Does it hurt? Can I touch it?" she asked, annoying me a little.

Turning my left side away from her, I held my left arm with my right one and shook my head. "Please, I don't want to talk about it..."

Celsius seemed to be disappointed and had a somewhat sad look on her face.

"Anyway, this is my partner Cobal," I continued, pointing at the Lucario next to me.

"Oh, so my dashing prince is called Cobal! That's good to know!" she smirked at him again.

"Nice to meet you?" the knight replied in a questioning tone. Now that he knew that this Pokemon was somewhat of a flirt, he wasn't fazed by her that much.

"What is a Kirlia doing alone in Foggy Forest? Did you get lost?" the Lucario questioned.

Celsius responded with a smile. "Nah, I'm here with two friends of mine. We have a job here and I kind of got bored, so I decided to check out the area around our camp."

Her expression turned serious all of a sudden. "Actually, now that I think about our job, you two shouldn't really be here. The area around Fogbound Lake is closed off to any Pokemon other than the team that's supposed to guard th-"

She put her white hand over her mouth and looked a bit shocked.

'She just was about to say Time Gear, wasn't she? So that means that she's part of the team that was sent here to protect the gear... We should be careful...'

"S-sorry... I'm not supposed to tell you what we are doing here!" she said, rubbing the back of her head. "Actually, it's me who should ask you! You two aren't supposed to be here!"

I gave Cobal another glance. He had a worried look on his face and was also waiting for my answer.

Before I answered Celsius's question, I went over the options I had at that moment.

'I wanted to tell the truth from now on but this would definitively lead to a bad situation... I could tell her another reason that isn't a lie but... Do I have another reason to be here, other than the Time Gear? What would the 'real' me do? If I hadn't lost my memories... Would I...? Hmm...'

A smirk appeared on my face. "Well, we're here because I want to challenge the legendary Pokemon Uxie to a battle!"

"You want to do what?!" She seemed to be quite shocked by this. "B-but Uxie is at Fogbound Lake! I can't let you go there!"

'Dammit.'

"Come on, I just want to ask him for a quick match," I replied, trying to persuade her.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea... Things are a bit tense right now," Celsius explained.

My eyes focused on the Kirlia's Muscle Band. "Well... If I can't challenge him... Would you have a match with me then?"

"Me?" She seemed to be a bit confused by my sudden challenge.

"Yeah! I'm a bit curious why a Kirlia like you is wearing a Muscle Band," I answered. "You seem to be more of a fighter than a ballerina."

She put her hand onto the headband around her neck and gave me a smile. "Do you like it?"

"Sure! That scarf of yours looks pretty cool too," I complimented the psychic-type.

"Thanks! I thought the same thing when I bought it!" she beamed, rapidly jumping from one leg to the other.

"Alright, then! I like you! I accept your challenge!" she exclaimed, calming down again.

Another mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "Let's make it a bit more interesting though. If I win, I get a date with that good-looking friend of yours."

This time, I had to laugh to her tease. Cobal turned red again and muttered something under his breath.

"And if I win, you will let me go up to Uxie and ask him for a match!" I replied, giving her a determined look.

Celsius hesitated a bit before she held her hand out to me. "I might get in trouble for this but... Okay, you got a deal!"

"Great!" I replied, going for the handshake.

"Do you want to-" she began to ask, however, Celsius was interrupted by a sudden scream from the side of the path.

"There you are!" a male voice shouted, making us turn our heads into the direction of its source.

An Eevee was now standing on the dirt road, giving the Kirlia next to me an angry look. "You can't just run off like that! What if somebody would have tried to-"

The normal-type blinked when he noticed that two Lucario were standing next to the Pokemon he was just yelling at.

A big explorer-bag was hanging on his side, being held by a leather-band that ran over his shoulder. His fur seemed very well-groomed as it fell smootly down his body and even seemed to shine a bit.

"Hi, Corrine!" Celsius greeted the Eevee.

"Celsius? What have you...? Who are these people?" Corrine questioned, giving Cobal and me a confused look.

"Well, this here is Ri..." the Kirlia introduced me.

As soon as the Eevee heard my name, his expression changed. I could've sworn that I saw a glint in his eyes while his gaze fixed onto me.

Somewhat nervous, I waved at the normal-type. "Hi!"

"And this handsome knight is Cobal" Celsius continued, pointing at the Lucario.

"Hello," the Lucario responded.

Corrine's eyes were still locked onto me. I began to feel a little uneasy and gave him a confused look. "Is something wrong?"

"Sorry, what?" It seemed like he was just shaken out of a trance.

"You keep staring at me," I clarified.

"Oh, sorry," the Eevee apologized. He still looked in deep thought for a while until his eyes widened when he noticed my arm.

Again, I felt rather annoyed by the stare. It wasn't the stare itself that bothered me, rather the questions that came afterwards. I really wanted to avoid a conversation about that topic... Not exactly for myself but somebody else... I just didn't really know who.

"Oh, excuse me..." Corrine noticed what he was doing and shook his head, creating eye-contact with me again.

"I'm not really acting like the greatest gentleman right now, am I?" he said, putting a smile on his face. "I should properly introduce myself first!"

"As my partner Celsius has mentioned before, my name is Corrine!" the Eevee introduced himself, going for a little bow. "I was a bit surprised just now, explaining my rude behavior... Normally, I act like-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Celsius walked next to the Eevee and ruffled up the fur on his head.

"The greatest gentleman in the world!" she finished for him.

"Would you stop!?" He quickly got out of her reach and tried to fix the messed up fur between his ears with his paw.

I didn't really pay attention on what he was doing with his hair but when the normal-type put his paw down again, the fur on his head was well-done and shining again.

What followed was a short argument between the two Pokemon. Corrine was calling the Kirlia "childish", "irresponsible" and turned even more angry when she mentioned that she accepted to have a match with me. Celsius simply shrugged his 'insults' off and laughed when he exaggerated at some points.

I couldn't feel any hostility in their argument. These two obviously were good friends and spent some time together. They knew how the other one was ticking.

A sigh escaped Corrine's mouth when they were finished. "So you want to have a match with her now?" he questioned, facing me again.

I nodded. "Yeah... And if I win you'll let me go up to Fogbound Lake, right?"

"Ehm... I don't think we can allow you to do something like this... We'll have to talk with our final member Siavon before I can say anything," the normal-type replied. He seemed to be in deep thought and was giving me a keen look.

"Our camp isn't far from here. We can have our match there!" Celsius continued, pointing into the forest to our right.

"Yeah, let's get to our camp... You two can tell us a little more about yourselves on the way," Corrine said, already heading into the direction in which their camp was supposed to be.

'Why is he acting so weird? I guess my name must've raised some suspicion... I can't blame him... I would be suspicious too... Only question is if his suspicion will turn out bad for us...'

The Kirlia followed him through the bushes. I was just about to do the same when Cobal grabbed my shoulder, indicating me to wait a moment. I assumed that he wanted to talk in private in order to discuss about our plan on collecting the Time Gear.

When the two Pokemon in front of us were out of listening-range, we followed them at a steady pace.

"I thought you were done with lying... What has changed your mind?" he whispered.

"Who says that I lied? I just told him the other reason I have to be here," I whispered back.

"Oh, okay... Anyway, what is your plan?" he questioned in a worried tone.

"Okay, Plan A is to beat her in the match and claim my price of our bet. Once we're up at Fogbound Lake, we'll try to explain everything to Uxie and hopefully get the gear without hurting anybody," I explained.

"And what if you they follow us up there? What if Uxie doesn't believe us and attacked us? There are just so many things that could go wro-" He couldn't speak any further as I interrupted him.

"Hey! If they find out about our true intensions, we'll simply explain our situation to them and hope that those three will believe us. If they don't and we end up having to fight them, then so be it. The same goes for Uxie... Should they not give us the time to explain ourselves and fight us right away, we'll tell them once they're deafeated," I continued.

"Is there a reason for you two whisper like that?" Corrine asked, giving us a suspecting look.

"Sorry!" I called out to him, catching up with the Eevee and Kirlia.

"As I mentioned before, I would like to know a little bit more about you two..." the normal-type said in a stern tone.

"Uhm... Okay. What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Well, how did you get the idea to challenge Uxie to a battle?" he returned.

"Uhm... I have met him before... He used the illusion of a Groudon to fight me last time and well... I'm really curious to see what the real one can do!" I answered honestly.

Corrine seemed to be a bit surprised. "You know him? When exactly have you been here the last time?"

Putting my paw up to my chin, I tried to remember how long it had been since I went on the Expedition. "Uhm... I'm not sure... Two weeks?"

The Eevee responded with a thoughtful look and muttered something to himself. It was a bit unclear but I was able to make out the word "Expedition". If he knew about the Expedition of Wigglytuff's guild, he also knew that 'Ri' was there too... I had to be careful with my words.

"Where do you two come from?" Celsius asked, joining the conversation.

"I'm a knight of the royal house of Alteal but I come from the tribe of Lucario that lives near Crystal Cave," Cobal answered.

"Uhm... I'm not really sure where I come from... I have amnesia and don't remember that much about my past. But Cobal here told me that I am supposed to have lived in Alteal just like him," I explained with a somewhat sad look.

"That sucks..." Celsius responded with a concerned look.

Corrine only seemed to have heard the word "Amnesia"... This made me wonder if he knew that 'Ri' had it too. If so, he must have been completely suspicious about me by now.

I had to come up with something to increase the chance of a peaceful solution... If thing went on like this, a fight was inevitable... Just then an idea popped into my head. "Talking about Alteal... Have you two heard of the Spirit of Faith?"

The two only got confused by my question. "Spirit of what...?" the Kirlia asked.

"It's-" A sigh escaped my mouth. "Forget it..."

'There goes that... Dammit...'

"Look, there's the our camp!" Celsius exclaimed, pointing at an opening in the trees in front of us.

The four of us left the forest and found ourselves at a big clearing that ran all the way to the goblet-shaped rock formation that could be seen to our left.

Now that we were closer to Fogbound Lake, I could see the effects of removing a Time Gear much clearer. The whole area around the rock had lost its color and the waterfalls that fell down from the edges of the goblet were frozen solid. The two water-pillars fell down into two frozen ponds which ran along a path that went all the way to the clearing we were standing on. The border of the timeless area ran along the corner of the clearing. From above, this must've looked like a circle that was cut off a bit on its left side.

"Looks retty cool, huh?" Celsius asked looking at the black and white area.

"Yeah..." I replied, turning my head to my right to further inspect the clearing.

Two tents and a campfire were set up at the right side of the circle. A wodden log was placed near the fire-pit, acting as a bench. I could make out a Pokemon that was sitting on the log, looking at the flames in front of it.

It was a Haxorus. A pouch was strapped around its left upper arm and a belt was tied around its waist, holding three more pouches.

"That's Siavon," Corrine explained, leading us to their team member.

While we were walking towards the tents, my gaze fell onto the frozen waterfalls again. At the bottom of one of them, I could make out a small layer of ice.

"Hey, is there a reason why there's a chunk of ice over there?" I questioned, pointing at the spot.

The Eevee in front of me let our a sigh of annoyance while Celsius simply responded with a chuckle.

"Celsius wanted to know if the waterfalls can be frozen in this state... Yet another exhibition of her childish behavior," Corrine explained with a frown.

An experiment like this made me actually wonder if the physical state of time-frozen water could still be changed. "And? Does it work?"

"Nope... The ice just covers the waterpillars. The waterfall itself doesn't change," Celsius answered with a somewhat disappointed look.

"Uhm... Exactly how did you manage to freeze that pillar?" I asked. "Do you know an ice move?"

She responded with a smile. "Maybe... It wouldn't be fair if I told you all of my moves before our match, right?"

The Kirlia was right, just by knowing that she had some sort of ice-based attack I already had a slight advantage... It somewhat bothered me.

The Haxorus that was sitting in front of their firepit noticed us and turned around when we reached it. Now that it was facing towards me, I could further inspect its appearance. A trio of claw scars ran across the dragon-types chest. Another scar could be seen on its right eye which was completely white.

This Pokemon obviously had been in a lot of battles.

"Oh, you're back." The voice was male.

"I just left to kindly escort our friend Celsius back to camp," Corrine replied. He then turned back to Cobal and me. "Arceus knows when she gets in one of her 'adventuring' moods..." A sigh left his mouth. "She rarely comes back on her own."

"Oh, gimme a break..." the Kirla responded.

Another short argument between the two followed. While the two Pokemon sorted out thier little difference, the Haxorus in front of us gazed into the sky as if nothing was happening around him. I wondered if I should start a conversation with him... It was like he hasn't even noticed that his team mates dragged two Pokemon with them.

"By the way..." Siavon turned to us again, giving me a quick glance. "Who are these two friends you brought back with you?"

Celsius and Corrine stopped talking and looked at us.

"Well, the knight is called Cobal and the other one is... Ri..." the Eevee introduced us. His voice was bit strange when he said my name... As if he was implying something. "She talked Celsius into having a match with her... She wants to have a match with Uxie too..."

The Haxorus got up from his seat and walked next to partners. He then put his head down to my height and gave me a closer look. "Ri? Like the Riolu that worked with the time-gear thief?"

For some reason this didn't faze me. Not hiding anything took away my fear from getting exposed somehow. "Yeah! I've got the same name!"

He stared at me for a moment before a bored look appeared on his face. "Must be annoying to have the same name as an outlaw..."

I sweatdropped. It seemed like he didn't even care that I could have been 'Ri'.

Corrine poked the dragon-types leg, getting his attention. "Ehm.. Siavon... Could I talk with you for a second?"

The normal-type looked at me. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

'That Eevee is suspicous enough as he is... If he can talk that Haxorus into thinking that I'm me, we're screwed...'

I turned to Cobal, giving him a quick glance. He had a worried look on his face.

'He's probably thinking the same thing...'

"Go right ahead, we don't mind," I said, facing them again.

Corrine nodded in response and led the dragon-type behind one of the tents that had been set up. I could see Siavon's head, looking down at his smaller team-member. He still had that bored and careless look on his face.

"Hey! Ri," Celsius said, drawing my attenion to her. "How exactly did you meet Uxie? He told us that he stole everyone's memory about Fogbound Lake that came here before Wigglytuff and his guild."

I frowned for a moment before a smirk formed on my face. 'Well... Here it goes...'

"That's because I have been on their Expedition..." I answered.

She looked confused and seemed like she didn't know how to respond to this.

My eyes wandered back to Corrine and Siavon who were already walking back to us. The Haxorus was gazing into the distance again while the normal-type was looking at me with a stange look.

"So you really have been on Wigglytuff's Expedition," the Eevee said in a strict tone.

I was a bit surprised that he managed to hear that but I decided to remained silent... Something about the way he said those words told me that he figured out who I really was.

"Magnezone told us what he knew about Wigglytuff's Expedition... He never mentioned that a Lucario was present at that event." He smirked. "He only said something about a certain Riolu... The only way for you to have been on this Expedition would be that you are said Riolu!"

"Wait... She's what?" Celsius asked getting even more confused.

I folded my arms. "You're right... I guess there's no need to talk around the truth any longer..."

...

"I'm Ri, the time-gear thief's accomplice."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 29**


	30. Simple enough

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Oh! Hi, there!_

_Want to read a 10.000 word long fighting-scene?_

_Yes?_

_Well, go right ahead then!_

* * *

**Chapter 30 - Simple enough  
**

* * *

"I'm Ri, the timegear-thief's accomplice."

The Eevee in front me smirked in response, even wider than before. Siavon still had his head turned away from Cobal and me, however, he moved his eye to get us in his sight.

"You're... Her?" Celsius asked, seeming to slowly realize what was going on.

"So you managed to evolve somehow..." Corrine said before I could respond to the Kirlia's comment. "And now you're here to steal the Time Gear again."

"We are here to get the Time Gear but we are not trying to destroy the world! You see-" The Eevee interrupted me before I could even begin to explain myself.

"We already know about that excuse with Temporal Tower! You have to come up with something better if you want to fool us!" he shouted.

'Dusknoir told them the same bullshit as the others... Great...'

"But Temporal Tow-" He interrupted me again, leaving me with an opened mouth and a raised paw.

"Celsius!" he shouted to the Kirlia, holding his paw into her direction.

"What?! We fight them right away?" she replied, turning around to him.

The psychic-type in front of me jumped back to her partners and fist-bumped the Eevee and the Haxorus who was holding his left fist down to her. Celsius eyes closed for a moment and the hair on the sides on her head floated into the air.

"Ready." Her eyes opened and she broke the contact with her team-mates. She then put the Muscle Band on her neck onto her head, got into the stance of a karate-fighter and locked her eyes on me. Corrine got his paw onto the ground and tensed up too. Siavon simply took one step towards Cobal and me and folded his arms again.

"Wait a second! We don't want to-" This time I stopped myself. We wanted to solve this without causing any trouble but now that the opportunity for a fight had presented itself, I couldn't help myself to actually feel excited for a fight with those three.

"Fine," I said, a grin forming on my face.

Just then I heard the sound of a sword that's being unsheathed from my left. Cobal had already pointed his weapon at the three Pokemon in front of us when I turned to him. They got even more tense in response, locking their gazes onto the tip of the blade.

"What are you doing?!" I asked, my grin turning into a shocked expression.

"You said that the fate of the world depends on the success of your mission. If it takes three lives to fulfill your task, then so be it," he answered, actually addressing our opponents and trying to sound threatening.

"Three lives?" Just the fact that he considered to take one life made me snap.

I stepped up to him, grabbed him by his scarf and pulled his face to mine.

"TAKING EVEN ONE LIFE IS UNACCEPTABLE!" I yelled at the knight giving him a glare. The Lucario seemed to be quite surprised by my reaction and was looking at me with wide open eyes.

"Y-you-" Cobal broke eye-contact. "I'm sorry..."

Letting go of my partner, I looked at the three Pokemon who had to witness that scene. They looked just as surprised as Cobal had. One look stood out though... Corrine seemed to be positively surprised. I could make out a faint grin on his face.

The Lucario next to me lowered his sword and took one deep breath, probably to regain his composure. "I can't promise that I won't use my blade in this battle... The only promise I can give you is that I won't use any lethal means. Are you okay with that?"

"Let's just get this over with first," I replied in an angry tone, jumping backwards to create some distance between me and our opponents. I then put my paws together in front of me, concentrating my aura into them. After that, I created my silver shining bone between them and broke the weapon in half, creating one baton in each of my hands.

Spinning them around in paws before I got into Grovyle's basic stance, my eyes locked on the three Pokemon in front of me.

'Three opponents... One dragon-type, a psychic and fairy-type and a normal-type... I have no idea what Celsius just did with the two of them but I'll go for the Eevee first, then her and finally the Haxorus if Cobal hasn't knocked him out until then... Simple enough...'

Cabal put some distance between them as well and joined my side, getting into the stance he had just during our spar, holding his sword in his right hand.

"Siavon see if those two have any dangerous moves," Corrine said before he looked at the Kirlia to his left. "Both of them should have similar abilities, so it doesn't matter who you take... Just go for it."

"Since when do you get to give orders?" Celsius pouted, giving the normal-type an annoyed look while the Haxorus focused his gaze on Cobal.

"The knight is tough... He's fast and strong... Extremespeed and something that lets him to strengthen his physical capabilities..." Siavon said, receiving a growl from the Lucario next to me.

I was very surprised that the Haxorus could muster his abilities just by looking at him. When the dragon-type's eyes moved onto me, I tensed up even more.

"She's just as fast as him... If not faster... She is able-" His uninterested look turned surprised, even shocked and a gasp escaped his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Corrine asked, noticing his partners reaction.

"W-what? This... This isn't normal!" The Haxorus unfolded his arms and tensed up.

"What do you mean?" Celsius questioned.

"S-she's able to use Dragon Pulse but... I sense something different at the same time... I don't know if it's her aura or not but whatever it is feels like another being somehow..."

'Dragon Pulse? My aura? What is he talking about?'

"Huh?" Both of his partners gave him a confused look before they focused their gazes on me again.

"You have to stop her when she uses it... And be careful," the dragon-type continued, ready to fight.

I gave Cobal a quick glance who seemed to be just as confused about what the Haxorus said as I was.

"You're able to use Dragon Pulse? Why didn't-" His quirk of realizing questions on his own while he asked them showed itself again. "Right..."

"Can we get started already?" Celsius called over to us.

"I was just about to ask you the same!" I called back, concentrating on Extremespeed and dashing forward.

**~ BGM: Melee Dance! - Tales of Xillia (Extended)  
**

Time around me seemed to slow down while my attention focused on the Eevee in front of me. Just before I passed him to throw a well-aimed bone at the back of the normal-type's head, I made eye-contact with him one last time. A smirk could be seen on his face and his eyes were strange somehow. They were glinting again, however, it was different from before.

His friends haven't even been able to follow me when I got behind him and launched my 'back-stab'.

My eyes widened when the Eevee was suddenly gone and only dust could be seen at the empty spot I threw my left bone at.

'What?!'

"Thanks for the speed-boost!" a voice said from behind me.

Before I could even fully realize what was going on, something hard slammed into my back.

While I got pushed forwards, I saw Cobal rush towards Siavon. The Haxorus had put a seed in his mouth and was biting down on it.

As soon as I managed to dig my feet into the ground, I turned around to see what had just happened. Corrine had somehow managed to outspeed my Extremespeed and was giving me smirk. To my left, my partner was just throwing his sword at the Haxorus who was blocking the blow with his razor-sharp teeth. Sparks were flying into the air when they made contact. I was actually quite surprised that the dragon-type managed to keep up with his speed. The seed, the Haxorus had swallowed must've been a Quick Seed...

"That was Mimic, if you're wondering!" the normal-type in front of me explained, keeping up his smirk.

'Mimic? He copied my Extremespeed?!'

"Got her!" Celsius exclaimed, her eyes shining with a light-blue light.

"And?" the Eevee next to her asked.

"Dunno... I don't feel any different," she replied. "Only one way to find out what I got!" The psychic-type then dashed at me, preparing a punch.

I concentrated on Extremespeed again to throw my bone at her before she could even react. As soon as my baton left my paw, Corrine rushed between the Kirlia and my projectile, radiating some kind of blue energy. The energy formed something like a blue sphere around him and expanded, completely surrounding the Eevee.

An explosion went off when my bone made contact with the shield, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Meanwhile, Cobal had used Extremespeed as well to get behind his opponent. When the Lucario's weapon made contact with the Haxorus's back, another set ot sparks was thrown into the air. My partner's eyes widened when Siavon turned around and slashed at him with his left claw. Cobal used his arms to block the attack and was pushed backwards.

'What the...? Are those scales really hard enough to block steel? How are we supposed to deal with him this way? Ugh, I should take care of these two first.'

My eyes focused on my own fight again.

"So, who is the new guy, anyway? Another 'friend' for you to abandon when you see fit?" Corrine's voice said scornfully from behind me.

I turned around to see that the normal-type had used Extremespeed to position himself behind me.

"What are you- I wouldn't-" My eyes widened. 'Does he know about Riley and Ozu?'

"I know all about how you tricked Wigglytuff's Guild," the Eevee smirked. "Tricking your guild members like that... Must've been pretty hard for them when they found out who you really are. Especially for your team mates."

"Why do you-" Feeling guilty, my head fell downwards. "I... If Dusknoir would've found out about Riley and me... I... I was trying to protect them!"

"Great job!" he replied mockingly. "We've seen what happened to those friends of yours... They're probably locked up in some prison in the future now if not worse!"

Even more guilt was welling up inside of me while I balled my right paw into a fist. "They didn't deserve this," I muttered to myself.

Suddenly, my ears twitched and I heard someone rush at me from behind. Concentrating on Extremespeed, I turned around and locked my eyes on Celsius who was almost in reach to throw a fist at me.

Thanks to my enhanced speed, I easily managed to find an opportunity to counter. Taking one step to my right, I prepared a punch with my left fist.

When I was just about to throw it into the Kirlia's face, she suddenly began to emit a white glow. With a flash of light, she vanished and was replaced by an Eevee who was creating a blue shield of energy around him.

'They switched places?!'

"Oh! So they didn't deserve to be betrayed but you still did just that," he said while my fist impacted on his barrier.

"It's wasn't like that!" I responded in an angry tone, being pushed back by the expanding sphere.

"Are you sure?" he smirked with a strange glint in his eyes. The way he asked that question made me feel strange somehow.

"J-just shut up alr-" I felt something hot rapidly approach my back. Corrine landed on his feet and jumped to his right when something hit me from behind. I was launched forward, the force of the attack great enough to lift me off my feet and make the bone in my paw disappear.

"Ngh!"

My whole back literally felt like it was on fire while I was flying through the air. I could feel my scorched fur, the skin underneath it screaming in pain.

I painfully landed on my chest and rolled on the ground to weaken the impact and take care of the burning fur on my back.

Using the momentum from the roll, I immediately got back onto my feet and faced my opponents again. Celsius's right foot was still in the air and covered in flames. She must've used a kick to push me forward like that.

'Fire? Is that why it hurt that much? Oh, right... Steel-type... I have to be careful... Wait a sec... She's able to use fire attacks... And earlier she mentioned that she's able to use ice attacks too... Celsius... Hmph, I should have figured...'

The Kirlia smirked at me while she lowered her foot and got back into her fighting-stance. Corrine had already used his enhanced speed to get next to her again.

In the meantime, Cobal was having a hard time against Siavon. None of the Lucario's attacks seemed to get through the Haxorus's scales. His sword was useless and hand-to-hand combat was ineffective as well. The dragon-type was fighting completely defensive, using his 'armor' to shield himself from any attacks. He even seemed bored somehow while his eye followed his opponents every move. Cobal's Force Palm and Aura Sphere usually got dodged but even when they managed to connect, Siavon's scales left him unharmed. Thanks to the Quick Seed, Siavon was even able to keep up with the Lucario's Extremespeed assaults.

"So, what's your answer?" Corrine called over to me.

"Shut up!" I yelled angrily, concentrating on Extremespeed again to dash at the Eevee in front of me.

Halfway there, I suddenly lost my focus on the move and a strange thought rushed through my head.

_I betrayed them, didn't I?  
_

My eyes widened and the Eevee was giving me another grin when he noticed how my speed decreased. I was so surprised that even stopped running.

"What's wrong? Something tormenting you?" he asked.

Celsius dashed forward and covered her fists in flames. Surprised by her sudden assault, I tried to concentrate on Extremespeed but another thought appeared in my mind when I tried to do so.

_They must hate me now.  
_

The Kirlia in front of me got in reach and threw her burning fist forward, making me backstep to dodge the punch. She kept up her assault and launched a series of burning punches and kicks at me.

'What the hell?! Why can't I use Extremespeed? And why can't I get these thoughts out of my head? Ugh!'

Celsius's continuous assault was getting harder and harder to dodge. Extremespeed wouldn't work and each move I evaded left me further off-balance. A burning left-hand punch flew at my torso with no chance for me to avoid it. Seeing no other way to reduce the incoming damage, I grabbed her left wrist with my own charred left arm. I was surprised to find that I didn't even feel the flames engulfing her fist.

'It doesn't burn?'

Deciding to figure this out later and take advantage of it now, I used the momentum from her punch against her and threw her behind me. Rather than landing flat on the ground, she curled into a dive roll and got back to her feet. I decided to take advantage of her exposed back before she could face me again. Forming another pair of Bone Rush batons in my paws, I charged, aiming to strike the back of her head.

Right before my attack hit, she glowed white and another flash of light made me face Corrine again, having his protective barrier up once more. My attack hit the shield and bounced off. I put the momentum from the rebound into a spin and struck with my right-hand baton in a forward grip, hoping to break through the shield with repeated attacks. Immediately before my baton struck, however, another stray thought interrupted my concentration.

_I'm a horrible person. A traitor... and a lair..._

The batons faded and my arm swung harmlessly in front of the shield. Corrine, meanwhile, had apparently planned for this and was already in the process of dropping his barrier. He glowed white and a sudden flash left Celsius in front of me again. Immediately afterward, something slammed into me forcefully from behind, though it didn't do much other than cause me to stumble slightly.

At the same time, though, Celsius was after me with a barrage of swift punches, her fists leaving a thin, translucent pink trail. Something about the almost-rhythmic timing of the punches caused me to drop my guard slightly too early each time, sending me staggering from every hit. I somehow recognized the attack as Dizzy Punch, though something seemed off about it and it was definitely hitting harder than a normal-type attack should have.

I didn't get time to think about what that might mean, because Celsius's fists lit up in flames again and a strange force pushed me straight forward into her punch. Remembering earlier when I caught her Fire Punch, I put my left arm up to block, and indeed the punch seemed to do absolutely nothing when it made contact with my arm. However, her punch had some considerable force behind it and pushed me back again, creating some distance between me and my opponent.

The Kirlia brought her left hand up to her mouth and formed a ring with her fingers. An icy fog radiated around the ring before she blew through it, sending an Icy Wind into my direction.

I quickly jumped to my right to evade the gust of ice but the attack still managed to graze at my left arm and leg, causing me to grit my teeth while the cold crawled into my bones. When I regained my balance after my jump, I got back onto my basic stance and looked at the two Pokemon in front of me.

Behind them, I could see how Cobal was faring against Siavon.

The Haxorus was on the offensive now, slashing at my partner with his claws that radiated some sort of purple energy. I recognized the attack as Dragon Claw for some reason. Cobal dodged the swipes with Extremespeed but didn't seem to find an opening to initate a counter.

Siavon somehow must've managed to get behind the Lucario's attack pattern as whenever Cobal tried to throw out an attack, the dragon-type dodged and moved into the perfect position to counter. The Haxorus had seemed to be laid back and uninterested but figuring out his opponents movements in that short amount of time must've meant that this was just a facade.

"Good job, Celsius!" Corrine said, drawing my attention back to my opponents. "Mind if I leave the two girls alone while I have a little chat with the knight?"

"As long as you don't intend on stealing him from me, I'm fine!" Celsius chuckled, giving her partner a grin.

"Stealing hi-" The Eevee frowned. "Really? In the middle of a battle?"

The Kirlia responded with another chuckle. "Sorry!"

**~ Switch music: Break the Time Factor - Tales of Xillia 2 (Extended)**

Corrine turned around and joined his other partner while Celsius ran toward me, her fists glowing in a faint pink.

Just like before, she assaulted me with a series of swift punches and kicks. Now that I had seen her rhythmic timing, I was somewhat able to dodge properly, however, somehow she had become faster than before. Occasionally, her blows brushed against my fur, leaving burns on me whenever she decided to use fire to attack me. Just like before, my left arm didn't seem to be affected by the flames. After dodging another punch, I used this to my advantage and pushed her burning fist out of the way, giving me the opening I needed to throw a counterattack at her.

When my punch connected with Celsius's face, my arm went right through the Pokemon, leaving me with wide opened eyes while the momentum form my attack caused my whole body to stumble through what seemed to be a hologram of her.

'What the...? Double Team?'

Before I could even regain my balance, I felt a strange sensation all over my body. An invisible force was pulling me to my left somehow. When I turned to my left, my eyes met Celsius, her eyes glowing in a bright, blue light.

'Psychic?!'

The psychic-type had already prepared a blazing kick and threw her attack towards my face. Her psychic-move kept me from guarding myself from her foot, causing the blow to hit me straight in the face. The heat of the flames wandered all across my face as my cheek got scorched and the force of the attack lifted my feet off the ground.

I painfully landed on my face a couple of feet away from her, letting out a grunt when I impacted on the ground. My head was a little dazed when I pushed myself up to get back on my feet.

'God dammit... I'm too slow to keep up with her... That Icy Wind must've slowed me down a bit. I have to try something else...'

Back on my feet, I faced my opponent again and got into a somewhat relaxed stance.

'Extremespeed only seems to work a short amount of time before I lose my focus... Even if I can only keep it up for a split second, Extremespeed stays Extremespeed.'

My opponent wasn't fazed by this and dashed at me with another assault of burning punches. When her first attack was about to hit my face, I concentrated on Extremespeed to get my left paw up into position to catch her punch. My plan worked and using the move for only a short amount of time spared me from the unpleasant thoughts, Corrine had somehow put in my head.

Celsius's eyes widened when I caught her fist with my paw and tightened my grip on her hand. I quickly moved behind her, pulling her arm up behind her back with a quick motion, not giving her any time react. Putting my right paw onto the psychic-type's back, I focused my aura into my palm.

_Riley, Ozu... They will never forgive me._

Gritting my teeth, I released the half-powered Force Palm and let go of the psychic-type's hand before the stray thought could disturb my focus. Even though my attack wasn't fully charged, it still had some considerable knockback and sent Celsius flying.

The Kirlia landed on her face and stayed on the ground, giving me an opportunity to help out Cobal.

I looked over to my partner to see that Corrine and Siavon were teaming up on him. The Eevee was trying to do the same thing he did to me and pestered him with questions while Cobal dodged the Haxorus's attacks.

'I have to do something...'

Dashing towards the three Pokemon, I focused my attention on Corrine.

"I guess it sucks to be you then!" the Eevee said mockingly, following the two fighting Pokemon.

"Shut up!" Cobal shouted back, blocking a Slash attack from Siavon with his sword. Corrine's distraction worked and caused the Lucario to lower his guard a little too early. The dragon-type managed to swipe the weapon out of his hands, throwing the blade towards the middle of the clearing. The sword hit the ground with its sharp end and stayed stuck.

My partner grit his teeth and dodged another slash of the Haxorus's tusks.

Immediately when I reached Corrine, who had luckily not noticed me, I let my body fall to the ground and slid on the soil. Right next to him, I put my left paw between his front and hind legs and pushed the normal-type upwards on his belly. A yelp escaped his mouth when I used my momentum to get back on my feet and lifted Corrine into the air.

Standing again, I positioned the Eevee in front of me to throw my right fist into the normal-type's surprised face. The sudden engagement gave him no time to react or put up his defensive barrier and a full-powered punch impacted on his right cheek, launching him away from me.

I didn't waste any time to look after his flying body and focused on my next target. Siavon's attention was locked on the Lucario in front of him, leaving him vulnerable to a surprised attack from behind. Putting his sturdy scales into consideration for my next attack, I ran behind the unaware dragon-type and jumped up into the air.

Right above him, I flipped my body forwards and focused the aura around myself into dense airstreams. Launching myself downwards with an Aerial Ace, I used the resulting velocity to throw down an axe-kick at the Haxorus's head.

The force from the blow was strong enough to send another shockwave through the air. I pushed myself off his head and spun around in my flight before I landed next to Cobal, returning my gaze on Siavon.

The dragon-type wasn't even fazed by my kick and rubbed his head with an unimpressed look on his face. Not even a blow that could possibly have split boulders in two was able to get through his defense.

I grit my teeth, getting back into my basic stance. "That didn't even bother him."

"It's an ability called Battle Armor... Physical attacks aren't effective as long as he manages to block the attack with those scales." the Lucario next to explained while our other two opponents got back on their feet and walked up besides the armored Pokemon in front of us.

Corrine's cheek was swollen and a couple of bruises were scattered on his still groomed fur. Celsius, who was now standing to Siavon's left, looked similar as she was covered in bruises as well.

"But I've already found his weak-point... He always covered his stomach by lowering his head or with his arms, meaning he's vulnerable there." While my partner continued, the three Pokemon in front of us seemed to have a similar conversation like us.

"Right," I nodded before a grim expression appeared on my face and I went to our next problem. "I think that Eevee prevents me from using my moves properly. I... Ugh... I can't stop to feel guilty about my friends when I use Extremespeed or Bone Rush."

"So he managed to hit us both with Torment... This is bad. You can only hold up your moves for a short amount of time before that stray thought will rush through your head," my partner explained.

"Yeah, I figured that out too." I let out an annoyed growl. "What should we do about the Kirlia's teleportation thing?"

"I think it's Ally Switch... Always try to keep an eye out for her and put up your guard when she or another one of them begins to glow white," the knight recommended, tensing up again. "They are tougher than I thought." Cobal rose his hand up to his scarf while he said those words. I assumed that the Lucario had decided to mega-evolve but right before he reached the cloth, he flinched back and a shocked look appeared on his face. "Watch out!"

Turning my gaze back to our opponents revealed that an Eevee was right in front of me. Corrine began to glow in a white light and swapped places with Celsius, who already had her fists covered in a pink glow when the glow faded again.

Another assault of quick punches caused me to constantly backstep to evade the Kirlia's attacks.

At the corner of my vision, I could see that Cobal had to deal with Corrine, who was keeping him away from me by getting into the Lucario's way with one of his barriers whenever my partner tried to run towards me.

Meanwhile, Siavon rose his head up into the air, his tusks beginning to emit an ominous energy.

One of Celsius's punches managed to brush my left cheek and as a result, my eye shut tight, leaving me unable to evade her next move. The Kirlia used the momentum from her punch to spin around and hit me in the chest with a blazing kick. The force behind the kick wasn't strong enough to do anything else than make me stumble back a couple of steps and leave me off-balance though, however, the flames scorched the bandage that still covered my chest and left a constant stinging there.

Not leaving me any time to get my defense back up, my opponent used Ally Switch and swapped places with Siavon. The Haxorus turned his still risen head sideways, ready to throw his glowing blades down at me. Focusing my aura into my right paw, I quickly created a bone in it and held it upwards to block the next attack.

"DODGE IT!" Cobal's voice called out to me as the dragon-type sliced down at me.

Listening to my partner's call, I let my bone disappear and stepped to the side to get out of the way. Siavon's barely missed me and his teeth mage impacted on the ground... A huge explosion was set off and pushed me away from him.

When I regained my balance and vision on my opponent, my eyes widened. A small ravine that ran all the way into the forest was revealed when the dust from the blast set. The fact that this attack might have been able to kill me left me stunned for a moment, my gaze locked on the Haxorus as he pulled his tusks out of the ground again.

"What's wrong?" he asked, getting back up. Siavon faced me once more, giving me confused look. "Why didn't you counter just now? My side was wide open and a Dragon Pulse could've easily knock me out."

I shook my head to get my focus back and responded to his recent action. "What's wrong with you?!" I yelled angrily.

The dragon-type only rose an 'eyebrow' in response. "Huh?"

"That attack could've killed me!" I clarified.

"So?" The Haxorus shrugged and put on his bored expression. "You're trying to kill every single Pokemon on our continent... I see nothing wrong with killing you."

For some reason this statement made me angrier than it should've... A growl left my mouth while I balled my paws into fists and my whole attention focused on the dragon-type. "You see nothing wrong with killing someone?!"

Siavon turned confused again and muttered something to himself. "What's with her? They normally just get angry like this when I use Taunt on-" He was interrupted by a kick that was flying into his direction. The Haxorus sidestepped and I went right past him, landed on my feet and turned around to launch another attack at the dragon-type. While I dashed at him, he slashed his claws together and sent some sparks in the air. They looked sharper and a faint glow was coming off of the tips of his fingers.

Ignoring this, I focused on Extremespeed to reach his stomach before he could lower his head to guard it again.

_It's only a matter of time until I betray Cobal too..._

Right before him, I lost my focus and my speed returned to normal. The Haxorus rose his right claw and covered it with the familiar purple energy before he swiped at me with a Dragon Claw. I still managed to bring my arms up in front of me to block the attack and being a steel-type also lower the damage I received. The dragon-type only managed to push me back a bit.

When I stopped myself and faced my opponent again, I noticed something strange. The spots on my lower arms at which his claws had made contact, radiated the same aura he had used to cover his claws. My vision changed somehow for a moment and I saw the Haxorus in front of me differently. I was already angry at him but now I felt a different kind of anger towards him. Before, I wanted to beat him because of the things he said but now all I wanted was to show him that I'm stronger than him.

When the aura on my arms faded into the air, the strangely familiar feeling disappeared too and my vision turned back to normal.

The Haxorus didn't give me any chance to figure out what just happened and rushed me. His tusks gave off a purple glow when he threw two swift slashes at me which I luckily managed to dodge with two quick backsteps. It took him some time to recover from his last swipe, giving me an opportunity to look for my partner.

Cobal was fighting Celsius and surprisingly had the upper hand. It seemed like he used Extremespeed to predict her movements and counter them accordingly. The Kirlia used Double Team again when he launched a punch at her but the knight saw right through her trick and ignored her copy. His arm radiated a blue aura when he threw the psychic-type away from him with a powerful punch to her face.

When Corrine tried to attack the Lucario from behind, my partner quickly turned around and prepared a kick. The Eevee reacted immediately and used Protect, shielding him from the kick and pushing Cobal back a bit. Suddenly the normal-type began to glow again and was replaced by Celsius, who was preapring a burning kick herself. My partner was still off-balance and had no chance to react when Corrine suddenly dashed behind the Kirlia with Extremespeed and put his paw onto her back. The flames that covered her foot flared up and grew in size before she launched the kick right into Cobal's stomach.

An explosion of flames was set off when her foot contacted and the Lucario was lifted of his feet and thrown away from her.

Observing this made completely unware of the fact that Siavon had recovered and already prepared to throw another attack at me. When I noticed that my opponent had moved right in front of me, it was already too late. I was hit by a slash to my right side and thrown towards my partner. My steel-skin spared me from any serious injuries but being hit by a sharp pair of teeth still hurt quite a bit.

After a rather unpleasant impact on the ground, I used the momentum from my fall to roll backwards and get back onto my feet.

"Damn..." Cobal's voice said from my left. The Lucario had just gotten back onto his feet and seemed to be in pain. A huge burn-mark covered his stomach and a couple of bruises were scattered across his body.

My gaze fell back onto our three opponents. They had already line up again and seemed to talk about their strategy again. Corrine and Celsius looked a bit more beaten than earlier. Cobal must've managed to deal some damage while I was occupied with Siavon.

"We won't win if things go on like this..." The knight reached his paw up to his scarf and pulled out his Mega Stone. "I guess I'll have to go all out on them."

"A Mega Stone?!" Celsius yelled, drawing her allies attention to my partner.

"Celsius!" Corrine shouted before the Eevee suddenly vanished and only stirred up dust was left on his spot. Cobal had just begun to pour his energy into his stone when the normal-type reappeared in front of him.

Another Ally Switch swapped the Eevee with Celsius, who had a devilish smirk on her face while she locked her gaze onto Cobal. Startled and robbed of his focus, the Lucario tried to jump backwards to evade whatever attack she might send at him but only managed to stumble one step away from her. Cobal's and my own eyes widened when the Kirlia suddenly winked at him and a pink heart formed in front of her face.

'No...'

It flew right into his face and shattered into several smaller hearts. Cobal's face turned red, his eyes became bleak and his gaze focused on the smirking psychic-type in front of him.

Everyone stayed still for a moment and focused on the two Pokemon in the middle of the clearing.

"Cobal?" I asked in a worried tone.

No response... The Lucario had his view locked on Celsius.

"If you're gonna keep staring like that, you may as well do it over dinner at Spinda's," she teased the knight with a wink before she covered her fist with flames.

The Kirlia was just about to throw a blazing punch into my partner's face when I dashed between them with Extremespeed and pushed her away with a kick to the chest. "God dammit!"

"Mad because I stole your shining knight?" the psychic-type asked, rubbing her chest and giving me a smirk.

I could only frown to this before I turned around to see if reach him somehow. He only muttered some strange things to himself when I tried to talk with him. Shaking his body was ineffective as well and even a straight up punch to his face didn't pull him out of his trance.

"Dammit!" Facing my three opponents again, I tensed up and got into my battle stance.

The three Pokemon seemed to be ready to fight me again and had their eyes locked on me.

A growl escaped my mouth. 'Great... Good job, Cobal... Leaving me on my own with three opponents.'

I stepped forward and focused on Corrine who seemed to be in the worst condition of the three. The Eevee's was panting and looked exhausted in general. His constant use of Extremespeed must've cost him a lot of energy...

My view on him was occpied when Siavon stepped forward as well and approached me. My eyes met his and widened when his image suddenly split in two and it looked like two more Haxorus were facing me.

'Double Team?'

The clones duplicated too until Cobal and me were completely surrounded by dragon-types.

Gritting my teeth, I hectically looked around myself to find the original one. Siavon didn't really give me any time to do so though as one of the imaged rushed at me and slashed at me with its tusks. I barely dodged and immediately had to evade another attack as Celsius had joined the fight to finish me off and was throwing a buring punch at me. Remembering Cobal's strategy to deal with her, I used Extremespeed for just a split second to predict her movements and managed to counter with a couple of punches to her face.

I didn't have time to finish my combo though as another dragon was coming for me.

"Cobal! Snap out of it!" My constant calls were unheard while I struggled to dodge the increasing number of attacks that were flying my way. One clone after another swiped his razors at me, some of them managing to brush my fur now and then.

The group of Haxorus kept up their assault and with every attack they threw at me, I turned more exhausted.

All of a sudden, the clones disappeared and I was assaulted by Celsius again, her fist glowing in a pink light. Just like before, I foresaw her movements and managed to throw a kick against her legs, robbing her of the contact with the ground.

While my opponent was flying through the air and I put my whole power into my next punch, I saw the Kirlia smile, rather than appear terrified or anything like that. Time seemed to go slower when she suddenly winked at me and a bright white light engulfed the psychic-type.

With a flash, I had a Haxorus in front of me, head lowered and ready to launch himself into me. My belly was wide open and stopping my charge or dodging wasn't possibly anymore.

'Dammit...'

**~ Stop music**

Siavon pushed himself forward, ramming he tips of his teeth into my stomach. I felt how the 'blades' impacted on my skin and pushed into my body. I might have had a layer of steel-skin but the force of the blow was strong enough to pierce even that, making my eyes widen while my skin tore apart and blood shot out of the wound.

A shockwave tore through the air when his attack launched me backwards, even more blood pouring out of the wounds when his teeth left them. My stomach emptied itself and I coughed up a bile of blood while my feet left the ground.

Screaming in pain, my body was flung through the air. My back made contact with Cobal, who had been standing behind me and both of us were thrown into a tree. I painfully landed on my stomach, making me grunt in pain again. Coughing up blood again, my brain was crowded with the signals my body was sending to it.

I slowly pushed myself up and two paws entered my vision. A small puddle of blood could be seen between them and at the bottom of my view I could see even more of the red liquid.

Holding my body up with my left paw, I clutched the two open wounds on my belly with my right one. My breath began to tremble and my eyes widened when I noticed that my vision was already starting to turn blurry.

'This isn't good... I was already exhausted and now this? Ugh... How can I win like this? I've tried everything but it's still not enough to beat them... Even if my Aura Burst would kick in somehow, if I keep fighting like this I'll eventually lose to much blood and black out... How am I supposed to beat them alone?'

Moving my head to my right, I noticed Cobal who was laying next to me. His face was still completely red and his eyes were bleak and lifeless.

'If only there was a way to get him out of his trance...'

Raising my head, I faced our opponents again. Each of them was panting and covered in bruises.

"Give up... It's over..." Corrine panted. "You won't be able to fight much longer with a wound like that."

Siavon was wiping my blood from his tusks with an uninterested look on his face.

"You've been a real challenge though!" Celsius said, giving me a grin.

I grinned to myself and closed my eyes while I slowly got back onto my shaky feet. Still holding my stomach with my right hand, I stood up and opened my eyes again. Panting hard, I kept up my grin and faced them again.

"Sorry... But... I can't... do that..." I said. "Giving up because of a little wound like this... Heh... It takes more than a bit of blood to take me out..."

"Are you insane?!" the Eevee in front of me shouted. "You'll bleed out in no time like this! Come on! Be smart! We're going to treat your wound if you give up!"

Shaking my head in response, I gave them a determined look. "Thanks for the offer but I would rather beat you and treat them later by myself."

"Are you serious?! You're still in a three on one battle! You can't use your moves properly and there's a big open wound on your stomach!" the normal-type replied. "Why?! Why would you go through something like this? Do you want to see the world destroyed that badly?"

"For the last time... We're not trying to destroy the world," I replied. "Bringing the Time Gears to Temporal Tower will restore time."

"Wha-" The Eevee seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "So that means that the thief somehow managed to make you believe his lies."

"Maybe the two had something going and that's why she wants to help him," Celsius threw in, giving me a mischievous grin.

Even in my current state, my cheeks managed to bring up enough blood for a blush. "It's nothing like that!" I yelled somewhat angrily. The Kirlia was a bit surprised by my reaction and smiled at me...

Taking a deep breath to calm myself again, I told them why I was helping the timegear-thief. "I promised that I would help Grovyle... Saving the world is nice and all but for me it's even more important to keep the promise I made to him." A cough left my mouth. "If I can't keep it, there will be one more lie on my count... That's something I can't let happen after what I've done to my friends."

"That's why you believed him? Because of a promise?" Celsius questioned with a somewhat confused look.

"I already believed him before I made that promise. When he started to tell me his story, I doubted him at first... But then I saw something in his eyes... Something that told me that this person couldn't be a lair."

The eyes of my opponents widened all of a sudden and I heard something from behind me. Something touched my right shoulder, making me turn my head to the right. A Lucario was standing beside me, giving me a smile.

"I hope I didn't cause you any trouble," Cobal apologized.

"Took you long enough..." I replied, sighing in relief.

"I should've been more careful... I underestimated them quite a bit. To think that they would even push me to-"

"Will you mega-evolve already?" I interrupted him, coughing up a bit of blood.

"Keep the Kirlia away from me while I focus," he said, reaching under his scarf.

**~BGM: Persona 4 Arena - The Arena (Naked Mix) (Extended)**

"No problem." I bit through my pain and focused on the three Pokemon in front of me, who were already initiating an assault towards us.

Corrine luckily was exhausted, leaving him only able to use Quickattack to dash towards my partner. Putting my right paw away from my wound, I quickly ran in front of the Pokemon next to me.

The Eevee was gritting his teeth while he moved in closer to us. I followed his movements closely, always keeping an eye out for his team members. They would try some kind of Ally Switch maneuver to stop Cobal.

When Corrine was right in front of me, he began to glow in a white light. After a bright flash, I had Celsius in front of me who was preparing another Icy Wind.

Using Extemespeed, I slowed down everything around me to inspect her allies. Corrine was rushing towards us again, going for a flank from the right. Siavon prepared the same attack he had stabbed me with.

I concentrated my aura into my left paw and dashed at the Kirlia. Right before she blew out the ice-type move from her mouth, she began to emit the white light again.

A smirk appeared on my face when a Haxorus appeared in front of me. It was just as I anticipated their strategy.

Taking a quick step to my left, I let the dragon-type launch himself directly at Cobal who was already emitting white aura all around him.

I pushed my left paw onto the still flying Haxorus's side and with a battle-cry, I released a high powered Force Palm. A shockwave was sent into the air when Siavon got launched away from me with a loud blast, directly at the Eevee who had tried to flank us. He crashed into the normal-type and both of them landed on their faces.

The recoil from my move was huge and I too got blasted away from the attack. Even more blood poured out of my wounds while I was flying backward, bracing myself for an impact. My back made a rather painful contact with a tree, almost making me lose consciousness while my body fell down to the ground again. Sliding down into a sitting-positon, I clutched my aching wounds with my right paw. My vision was completely blurry and I slowly began to feel tired. The burns Celsius had caused were still stinging and overall I just felt exhausted and beaten.

I looked over to Cobal.

His whole body emitted a huge amount of energy and a lost of dust stirred up around the Lucario when he began to mega-evolve. The white aura that poured out of the Mega Stone formed a hull of of dense energy around him. With a cracking noise, the shell broke and even more energy radiated from the Lucario, sending a shockwave through the air. A Mega Lucario was revealed when the white light slowly faded.

Siavon and Corrine had already gotten back onto their feet and Celsius was standing where the Haxorus had been a few seconds ago. Their eyes were wide open and locked onto my partner who opened his eyes and turned to me.

I tried to get back up and continue this battle with him but while I struggled to push myself up with my arms, I coughed up blood again, causing me to fall back down against the base of the tree.

"Hey, you have done enough," Cobal called over to me with a concerned look. "I'll take care of this!"

"But if I don't fini-"

He interrupted me. "Let's just say that I took over for you... After all this was a three on two match, so there's nothing wrong with letting your partner deal the final blow." Cobal gave me a smile. "Are you okay with that?"

The Lucario was right... Honor in a battle meant a lot to me and knowing that he cared about it too made me accept his proposal. "Okay..."

My eyes widened when Corrine suddenly dashed next to the mega-evolved Pokemon and Celsius prepared another Ally Switch.

"Watch out!" I shouted, fearing that she might manage to use Attract on him again.

The Eevee and the Kirla were shining in a bright light and with a flash, they swapped their positons. Celsius had already prepared her move when the light around her faded.

A smirk could be seen on Cobal's face before he suddenly vanished and only stirred up dust was left at the place he had been standing on. The psychic-type's eyes widened when my partner reappeared behind her. He was kneeling down a bit and had his right paw pulled back.

"Close Combat." The Mega Lucario launched his fist at Celsius's exposed back. As soon as the attack connected, a barrage of light-blue, glowing beams of light crashed into the Kirlia. My eyes widened when I realized that the beams were actually his fists, thrown forward like a rapid fire. The sound of every impact resembled dulled machinegun-fire and with each blow, a small explosion of energy shot out from the impact-zone.

With one final 'beam' and a huge shockwave, Celsius was blasted away from her attacker. She didn't even scream while her body was flying though the air. The Kirlia landed on the ground like a ragdoll, a couple of feet away from Cobal.

"Celsius!" Corrine screamed, his eyes wide open and locked onto now unconscious psychic-type.

Cobal immediately fixed his eyes on Siavon, who I assumed to be his next target. The Haxorus had already tensed up when their gazes met.

In an instant, the Lucario dashed in front of his opponent, leaving only stirred up dust at spot he had been standing on. The Haxorus hadn't even managed to properly get into his defensive stance when Cobal's first punch connected with his chin. The fighting-type's arm flared up with blue aura while he pushed Siavon's face upwards, exposing the dragon-type's vulnerable belly. With a battle-cry, my partner released a huge amount of his life-force and threw a barrage of swift punches into the Haxorus's stomach. He finished his assault with one final blow and left his paw on the dragon-type's belly. With a loud blast, a Force Palm pierced his opponents body and sent the massive Pokemon flying, rippling another shockwave through the air while Siavon was launched away from Cobal.

The dragon-type slammed into a row of trees, tearing some of them with him as he crushed into the forest. Siavon didn't move anymore and had a couple of broken tree branches on top of him.

"Siavon!" Corrine's terrified voice echoed through the clearing.

My partner got back into a relaxed posture and faced his final opponent.

The Eevee's wide open eyes were fixed on the Lucario while my partner slowly walked closer to the normal-type, cracking his knuckles to intimidate him.

"Y-you..." Corrine slowly walked backwards and reached his paw into his explorer-bag.

"Don't do it. Nothing in there can help you against me in this form," Cobal warned, causing the Eevee to freeze in his spot. His head fell downwards, hiding his eyes from my view. The normal-type put his paw back on the ground and waited for my partner to reach him. Cobal stopped right in front of Corrine and gazed down at the Eevee, who seemed to curse something under his breath.

When Corrine rose his head and made eye-contact with his opponent again, an unbelievably cute look could be seen on his face. His eyes had grown twice in size and shimmered like stars in the night-sky. The Eevee was outright adorable.

Even in my current state I couldn't help myself and cough out a faint "Aww.".

My partner simply kept up his unimpressed stare while the Eevee's Baby-Doll Eyes bombarded him with cuteness. It must've been a desperate last try to somehow turn this battle to his favor.

"Really?" With a quick step behind Corrine and a well-aimed chop to the back of his head, Cobal knocked him out without hesitation. The normal-type's eyes immediately turned back to normal as his feet gave up underneath him and his body wandered onto the ground.

**~ Stop music**

...

Letting out a deep exhale, Cobal turned into my direction. His body began to glow in a bright light as his form returned back to its normal state. When the light faded, a normal Lucario was wandering towards me, giving me a smile.

I felt close to passing out when he kneeled down in front of me. "It's okay..." Grabbing my right paw which was still placed on my wounds, he lifted my arm into the air and inspected the injuries on my stomach. The bandage on my chest was torn and burned and two cuts tore across my belly. A trail of blood had leaked down onto the lower part of my body staining my belt and pouches. The fake sword that Cobal had given me was still held in place by the holster on the side of my belt and was covered in dust and small droplets of blood. My right arm itself and the old bandage on it were also covered in the red liquid.

The Lucario looked into my eyes. "This is going to hurt but I have to clean the wounds," he said, pulling out a tissue from one of his pouches. He then took out an Oran Berry from another one and squeezed some of the berry's juice onto the piece of cloth.

"J-just... do it..."

After a rather painful procedure of cleaning the cuts on my belly, he handed me a Sitrus Berry and a Rawst Berry.

Panthing hard, I tried to lift my hands to grab the fruits but found myself too weak and exhausted to do so. "I... I... Can't..."

"I see..." Cobal had to feed the berries to me. Consuming the Sitrus Berry sent a strange sensation through my body as my pain was dulled and my vision became clearer. The Rawst Berry took care of the burns that Celsius had left on my body and stopped the constant stinging on my skin.

"Alright. Now I'll just put some bandages on you and fix up the old ones. Are you okay with that?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Somewhat able to move again, I pushed myself away from the tree I had been leaning on and rose my arm so he could do his work properly.

First he took care of my stomach. The knight placed some cloth pads onto the wounds to soak up any blood in case they opened again. He then wrapped a set of cloth bindings around them to finished the bandage.

...

Most of the burns on me got taken care of with Rawst Berry juice soaked band-aids.

...

I turned red a bit when he unwrapped the bandage on my chest and replaced them with a new one. Being a Lucario didn't really mean that I had something bust-like down there but knowing that I used to be human gave me a strange feeling while Cobal fiddled around with the cloth. The knight noticed my embarrassment and gave me a confused look. "What's wrong?"

Turning even redder in response, I shook my head. "I... It's just that... Nevermind, just finish this... Quick..."

...

I insisted on cleaning my still blood-soaked fur on my own for obvious reasons I would rather not describe in detail... It turned out to be quite tedious but after a while I was all fixed up and clean again.

"Thanks," I said, stepping out from behind the tree I had used to get some private space. The Lucario had picked up his sword and was putting his weapon into the holster on his belt when I reached him.

"No problem," he replied.

"Uhm..." I inspected the clearing and searched for our now beaten opponents. Celsius was laying on her side at the edge of the clearing, Siavon was buried under broken tree branches in the forest and Corrine was still out cold. Strangely though, the Eevee's fur still looked groomed and clean after a battle like this.

"Can you pick them up and bring them over to their tent? I want to talk with them before we head up to Fogbound Lake."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 30**

* * *

_And? Satisfied? I hope so! You got strategies, a bit of humor, blood, your typical "I won't give up!" anime scene, a Mega Evolution... What else could you possibly want from a fight?_

_Go ahead, tell me... Some general feedback on the fight would be appreciated too of course! :D_

**_Anyway, special thanks to FlameUser64 for helping me out this much with this chapter. Thanks a lot! ^^_**


	31. Tell her

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 31 - Tell her**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

* * *

It took us about an hour to reach the border of the forest that supposedly was the home of Celebi.

When we arrived at our new hiding-spot at a small, circular clearing that we found shortly after we entered the bleak and colorless woods, Grovyle handed the unconscious Chimchar on his back to me.

"Here, see if you can fix him up a bit while I get some firewood and try to find something to eat..." he said, letting Ozu down from his back.

"Alright," I replied, grabbing my partner under his shoulders.

I carried the Chimchar into the middle of the clearing and placed him onto the soil ground while my other partner headed deeper into the dark forest.

Ozu was covered in bruises and an open wound could be seen on the back of his right hand. Dusknoir's men had stripped us from most of our equipment so I had no berries or other supplies for first-aid with me. The only things they had left us were the red scarf that was tied around my neck, the dessert-goggles on Ozu's head and the little locket that was hanging down from his neck.

At least they had left him his most important treasure...

I untied my scarf and wrapped it around the Chimchar's hand as this was the only thing I could do to treat his injuries. Without water or clean pieces of cloth, I couldn't even clean the small cuts and bruises on him.

Sitting down next to him, I looked at the peaceful expression on the fire-type's face.

"You idiot..." I said, hoping that he would somehow hear me in his sleep. "What were you thinking, being reckless like that?"

The unconscious Pokemon made no response, so I didn't hesitate to keep going.

"I was worried about you... I know how you are when you're scared... But... I have never seen you act this bravely before... This is the first time this side of you showed itself... Finally... Before that, I have only felt it inside of you... Whenever you spoke about exploring and your dreams... That determined look in your eyes... It was almost like a fire was burning inside of them... I guess that's the thing I admire the most about you."

Remebering the awkward kiss after he had beaten the Spiritomb, I put my paw on my mouth and looked at his lips.

"And now this..."

'Will he remember after he wakes up again? Do I even want him to remember? And what if he does? What are we supposed to do then? Ugh... Would it be awkward between us? Or... Might he feel something similar?'

A sigh escaped my mouth while I out my paw back down.

'Why do I feel so bad about myself whenever I think about that topic? Because I'm a human? Because I have only known him for a few months? Or maybe... Maybe because this is the first time I can't bring myself to do the things I have to do to reach my goals... Yeah, probably the last one...'

...

After a couple minutes of waiting, Grovyle came back and set up a small camp-fire next to Ozu and me. He struggled with it for a while due to our lack of firestones or conscious fire-types. After that, the grass-type sat down next us and started a new conversation.

"Don't worry about him... Just a bit of sleep and he'll be fine again," he said in a encouraging tone.

"I hope so..." I replied, giving him a sad look. "Did you find something to eat?"

A sigh escaped his mouth. "No..."

Just them my stomach grumbled, making me look down at it. I still had a bandage wrapped around my chest... It was a bit torn and dirty. "Crap..."

"I'm sure Celebi will have something to eat for us... After we get a bit of rest and your friend wakes up, we'll head to the center of the forest," my old partner responded. "And after we find Celebi and get something to eat, she'll send us back in time and we can finish our job."

We kept on talking for a while, discussing the details of his plan for tomorrow. He also used the opportunity to talk about our time in the future a bit... How the two of us met, the first couple of weeks where we found out about the Time Gears and a couple of other stories from that time.

He also told me some things about myself. How I looked as a human for example. Supposedly I was a slim girl with long, blonde hair. He didn't quite know how to describe my clothing but from his description and the little memories I had about the human world, I could form a vague picture in my head. Black shoes, a black skirt and a white shirt with a red, sleeveless hoodie above it.

I began to worry a bit when I thought on how things would go on once Celebi managed to bring us back.

"Do you really think that we will be able to collect the Time Gears again? Dusknoir did everything to ensure that nobody gets near them again..." I questioned. "And there's also the problem of that missing gear you were talking about..."

"I'm not too sure either... Ehm... About the missing gear...I think that Ri could have had something to do with it but... Well... Investigating this isn't possible anymore," the grass-type replied in a sad tone.

"Are you talking about the symbol she had on her paw?" I combined.

"If I had known about it earlier, we probably wouldn't have that problem now... Maybe we would've managed to figure out what it really was..." He sounded disappointed somehow. Another sigh escaped his mouth. "We should just focus on the Time Gears we can get at the moment..."

"Right," I replied.

"Well, I'll get some rest..." He slid away from me a bit and rested himself on the ground. "You should try to get some sleep too..."

I looked at the sleeping Chimchar next to me again.

'He's right... After a bit of sleep, things might look a bit better...'

Resting my head on the ground, I kept looking at my partner.

'I have to scold him for being so reckless once he wakes up...'

I felt tired and exhausted... After all, we had been walking all day and the encounter with the Spiritomb wasn't really relaxing either.

Closing my eyes, I tried to bring myself into a somewhat comfortable sleeping position.

My mind slowly drifted into sleep while I went over the recent events again... Being stuck in the future... Ri... The kiss...

The last thoughts before I completely slipped away were about the Riolu again... I missed her... My mind simply wouldn't let me forget that.

* * *

_"Why?" The Riolu in front of me asked. A big open wound could be seen on Ri's right upper arm and her whole body was covered in cuts and bruises. A black wall of smoke was behind her, completely surrounding the two of us._

_'What the? Ri?!'_

_"Why did you let me die?" Ri asked again, taking one step towards me._

_I wanted to answer but not a single word left mouth. I didn't even feel my mouth. My whole body felt lucid and non-existant somehow._

_'What the hell is going on?'_

_"Why did I have to die?" another voice questioned from behind me._

_My vision move behind me and I was greeted by another Riolu who looked just like the one from before._

_"You killed me." Another Riolu suddenly stepped out of the fog._

_'What?! I didn't kill you! What is happening?!'_

_"Why?" Yet another Pokemon appeared._

_"Why did you kill me?" One Riolu after another stepped out of the black wall of smoke. Every single one was coming closer to me, keeping up their questions._

_'I didn't!'_

_"Why did I have to die?"_

_'Stop it!'_

_"You killed me."_

_'Please, stop!'_

_"Murderer."_

_The voices got louder and louder and every question seemed to echo through my mind._

_"Riley, why? Why did you kill me?"_

* * *

"Stop it!"

I screamed while my eyes shot open and my body lifted itself into a sitting-position. My heart was racing and I was covered in cold sweat. My breath was trembling and my mind was dazed.

"R-Riley?!" Grovyle's voice called from my right. I faced him and noticed that the grass-type had a look on his face that was just as shocked as mine. He had dark circles under his eyes and was covered in sweat.

"What just-" Slowly my head cleared up and I realized that I just had a nightmare. My body calmed itself and I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"Did you have a nightmare?" the grass-type next to me asked, calming down himself.

"Yes..." I answered.

"That makes both of us then." A sigh escaped his mouth and he slowly got onto his feet. "I guess it was just one of those nights..."

Getting onto my own feet, I turned around and stretched my aching musles. A surprised look wandered onto my face when I saw what was leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"What the...?" I couldn't believe my eyes when I recognized all the gear the Sableye had taken from us, laying under the tree. Ozu's backpack, Grovyle's backpack and my pouch.

"What is it?" he asked, turning around to me.

A piece of paper was placed on top of them. I walked up to the bags and grabbed the sheet.

_**Tell her.**_

That was everything I could see on it. It took me a moment to realize that it was written in English, making me even more confused.

Grovyle had already joined my side and looked down at our stolen equipment. "What the...? How did it get here?"

"I... I have no idea," I was completely clueless. Still half-asleep, it took me a while to come to the obvious conclusion. "Somebody must've brought them here while we were asleep."

"What's this?" Grovyle questioned, noticing the piece of paper in my hand.

"It was laying on top of the bags," I answered, handing it over to him.

"Is that... English? What does it say?" the grass-type asked.

"Tell her... That's what it says," I replied.

A confused look appeared on his face. "Who's her...? And what are we supposed to tell that person?"

"I don't know... I wonder who would help us and then run off like this," I replied. "Do you have any ideas?"

My old partner folded his arms and seemed to be in deep thought for a while. "Whoever it was must've known that our equipment was stolen and stored at Dusknoir's base... Said person must also have followed us all the way here... But considering that I checked for pursuers almost every five seconds while we traveled, there isn't a great number of Pokemon that could've done something like that. It only could've been a ghost-type... But I don't know any ghost-types that would feel the sympathy towards us to actually do something like this... Putting all those factors together, I come to my final conclusion..."

The way he theorized and put up the facts made me pretty anxious for his next words.

He faced me again, letting out a sigh. "I have no clue who could've helped us..."

I sweatdropped. "So what we can say is that some mysterious person helped us for some unknown reason..."

"Ngh..." I suddenly heard a groan from behind me.

My eyes widened while I turned around and looked at Ozu, who seemed to slowly regain his consciousness.

"He's waking up!" Grabbing my pouch and the Chimchar's backpack, I quickly rushed to his side and inspected him closer. The fire-type was covered in sweat and had dark rings under his eyes, just like Grovyle and me. His expression seemed pained and grunts were leaving his mouth while his body twitched.

Putting down the bags, I kneeled down and grabbed his left shoulder. "Ozu!"

"Ngh!" With one last groan, he slowly opened his eyes.

The Chimchar blinked a couple of times before he faced me, giving me a confused look. "R-Riley? What happened?"

His question made me bite my lip for a second... I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the time while he was unconscious or shortly before he had blacked out. "I'll tell you later, I have to fix you up properly first."

I was pulling out the medical items I needed to treat him out of his backpack while Grovyle walked next to me and answered to my partner. "You had a pretty tough battle and blacked out after you won..."

"I did!" He shot up into a sitting-position and immediately regretted his action when a pained grimace wandered on his face. "Ugh!"

"Don't move that fast, you're still injured!" I scolded him, stopping my search and grabbing him again.

"Sorry," he replied, his expression slowly turning normal.

I continued to search for the supplies I needed while Grovyle continued to talk with Ozu. "How are you feeling?"

Grabbing a Sitrus Berry from his bag, I handed it to my partner and went on by searching for something to clean his wounds and for a roll of bandages.

"Thanks," the Chimchar said, quickly consuming the healing berry. After he had swallowed the last bits from the fruit, he answered the grass-type next to me. "Not so good actually... I'm really tired... I... I had a nightmare while I was asleep..."

"A nightmare?" I asked while I pulled out a clean tissue and an Oran Berry.

"You had one too?" Grovyle added.

I squeezed the juice out of the berry and let it drip down onto the piece of cloth. Grabbing Ozu's left arm I began to clean the many scratches and bruises on his body.

The fire-type gave me a confused look. "Y-yeah. By the way, where did you get those? I thought all of our equipment was gone."

The grass-type next to me folded his arms and seemed to be in deep thought again. "Somebody brought us our gear while we were asleep."

"The only clue we have is a piece of paper with a short message on it," I continued.

"What does it say?" Ozu asked curiously.

"Tell her... That's all what it says," I answered.

The Chimchar seemed to be just as confused as we had been.

Grovyle suddenly turned around. "I'll see if I can find any clues around the clearing." He began to walk towards the forest. "Watch yourselves while I'm gone."

"O-okay," Ozu responded with a worried look.

I was just about finished with cleaning his wounds when my old partner left the clearing and wandered into the gray woods.

"Alright, now I'll just have to wrap some bandages around those scratches..." I said, putting away the tissue and grabbing a bandage from Ozu's backpack.

A little anger was rising up in me while I began to wrap the first bandage around his upper arm. "What were you thinking?"

The Chimchar seemed to be confused. "W-what do you mean?"

"Why did you have to act this reckless? Grovyle told me what kind of dangerous move you used!" I made eye-contact again, giving him an angry yet concerned look.

He was surprised for a moment until his gaze fell onto the ground in front of him. "I'm sorry... I just used everything I had so I wouldn't get scared again."

"Biting yourself to activate your Blaze, completely exhausting yourself... Was that really necessary?" I asked, looking at the piece of cloth that was tied around his right hand.

"Do you remember when you sent me into the infirmary to talk with Ri before we went to Crystal Cave?" he asked, still keeping his head slightly lowered. "I felt so useless for not being able to stand up against Grovyle at Underground Lake... Before I asked Ri about her past, I wanted to talk about it with her. I asked her if she thought if I was a coward."

"What did she say?"

"She asked me if I wanted to overcome my fears... When I said yes and told her that I was really scared of getting hurt and dying in a battle, she taught me how to get over that obstacle." He faced me again and gave me a smile. "All I have to do is become strong enough to never be afraid again!"

The fire in his eyes seemed to flicker even stronger than before and I felt how something about him was different.

'He seems stronger somehow... And that all because of her?'

I went over to his next wound. "Does that include to completely exhaust yourself and use moves that harm you as well?"

His smile turned into a laugh. "Actually, that's something I learned from you."

"Huh?" I blinked at him with a confused look.

"If I want to use my full strength, I have to use everything I've got. That includes Flare Blitz and that trick with Blaze I learned before we met each other. Those abilities might cause the pain that I'm trying to avoid but I'm willing to deal with that." he explained. "My goal was to become as strong as I could get... If I'm only able to reach that goal by causing a bit of pain to myself... Well... Even though I don't like it, I'll just push through it and get that strength I want... Sound familiar?"

A couple of flashbacks rushed trough my head. Getting back Ozu's relic-fragment, defeating Drowsy, the Expedition, Quicksand Desert... There was always one unpleasant obstacle in our way that we had to get across. And it was always me who pushed everyone to get over them... I always had our goal in mind and never backed away from reaching it.

"Yeah... It does," I replied, feeling somewhat nostalgic. Ozu responded with another smile.

Thinking about goals, I remebered that I had another goal right in front of me. I began to feel a little nervous and gulped before I asked my next question. "H-hey Ozu..."

"What is it?" the fire-type questioned.

"What is the last thing you remember before you blacked out?" My heartbeat hastened a bit.

A confused expression wandered onto the Chimchar's face. "Ehm... I'm not sure... I remember that you ran up to me and checked my right hand... But after that... Hmm... I think last thing I remember is your face..."

"Nothing else?"

"No... Why do you ask?" Ozu questioned.

'He doesn't remember... He doesn't know about it...'

I broke eye-contact and turned red while my mind was at conflict with itself. I couldn't decide whether to feel happy or sad. I didn't know if I should tell him or not.

'What if he laughs at me? What if things get awkward? What if... Ugh! Just get it over with!'

"When you blacked out... Y-you... Ehm... You kind of..." I gulped down the lump that was forming in my throat. "Somehow we..."

...

I couldn't do it. "Ehm... Forget about it, it's nothing..." My head fell towards the ground and I started to feel disappointed about myself. Grabbing another bandage from the bag, I began to wrap the cloth around his shoulder and upper body.

My friend seemed to be completely perplexed and gave me a questioning look until he asked his next question. "So what are we going to do now? Wait for Grovyle and head into the forest to look for Celebi?"

"Not while you're still in a condition like that. First we'll wait until you're better and then decide what to do next," I answered in a worried tone.

The Chimchar gave me a smile. "Thanks for worrying about me but I think I can handle it. There's no time for us to rest... We need to get back to our time."

"But you-" I blinked when I noticed how smiliar he was acting to Ri at that moment. The Riolu was bandaged up most of the time we spent with her. Even though her injuries must've hurt, she always had that certain smile on her face. Ozu's smile was exactly the same.

Seeing an image of her in my mind made me remember the awful dream I had just a couple of minutes ago. A dark thought was flying through my head, causing me to stop my work and stare at the half finished bandage on Ozu's chest.

...

"Ozu?" I asked with a sad voice. "Do you... Do you think that I'm responsible for Ri's death?"

Tears were forming in my eyes. "I... I'm mad at her for lying to us but I just can't stop to feel this guilt inside of me. If... If I wouldn't have let myself be tricked by Dusknoir, she would still-"

"Don't say things like that," he interrupted me in a stict tone, making me look up to his eyes. "She wouldn't want us to think like this..."

"O-ozu." My partner was giving me a stern look.

"Don't blame yourself... We don't know what could've happend if things went differently," he continued.

His words had managed to calm me down again but I still couldn't completely push away this feeling of guilty. "But most of those things are my fault... If I had talked with her instead of listening to Dusknoir's plan... If I had-" The Chimchar interrupted me.

"Do you think you're the only one who thinks that way?" His serious look turned sad and depressed all of a sudden while tears formed in his eyes aswell. "Back at the beach, at the infirmary... If I had been able to persuade her to tell me about her past, she could still be alive right now... If I had just listened to myself when Dusknoir attacked her at Crystal Cave... I..." The amount of tears that were streaming out of his eyes increased with every word. "I should've protected her... I should've saved her... I should've..."

Ozu pulled his knees closer to his body and burried his face in the, hugging his legs with his arms. "There was nothing I could do... I couldn't move, I couldn't speak..." He sobbed loudly. "Dusknoir killed her... Over and over again. Freezing her up and shattering her body... And everything I could do was stand there and watch..."

"Ozu..." I realized that he just told me about his nightmare... Almost about to burst out in tears myself, I pushed my sorrows away and tried to keep calm.

Sliding closer my partner, I put my left arm around his back and finished the embrace with my right one. Resting my head on his shoulder, I tried to comfort him. "It's alright..."

We kept on sitting like that for a while. After a couple of minutes he was somewhat calm again, only letting out a couple of sobs and whimpers now and then.

"Thank you," Ozu said with a shaky voice.

I opened my eyes, still keeping my head on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he sobbed, lifting his head. His eyes were still red from crying but I could make out a faint smile on his face. "This didn't really turn out how I intended it to... It should have been me who comforted you and not the other way around."

He wiped the remaining tears out of his eyes and let out a sigh that sounded a little reliefed. "That helped a lot. Thanks, Riley."

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice asked from behind us.

Lifting my head from Ozu's shoulder, both of us turned around to see its source. Grovyle was standing at the border of the clearing, giving us a confused look.

I blinked in response to his question and realized how Ozu and I must've looked at that moment. Turning red, I quickly broke contact with the fire-type and slid away from him.

"It's not what it looks like!" Ozu and me called in union while I got back onto my feet and turned to the Grovyle. I took a quick glance at my partner, who had gotten up as well.

"I-I just told her about my nightmare! That's all!" Ozu explained in a somewhat desperate voice.

The grass-type didn't quite seem to believe him and gave the Chimchar a grin until his expression suddenly turned serious and almost sad for some reason. A sigh that had a slight tone of depression behind it left his mouth. "Look... I don't care what is going on between the two of you but remember that we have to focus on finding Celebi right now."

'What's going on between the two of you? So he really thought that-' I got even more embarassed.

Grovyle entered the clearing and approached me and my partner. "Anyway... I've searched the area around our clearing and... Well, I've found nothing."

The grass-type walked over to our fire-pit and began to pile up some new firewood. "Whoever brought back our gear didn't leave any traces... No even footprints."

"Not even footprints?" Ozu asked. "Does that mean that we have no clues what so ever?"

Grovyle smirked. "Not exactly. We now know that this Pokemon must have the ability to levitate. This leaves out only a couple of species we can assume to be our culprit."

Ozu and I walked up to our fire-pit and sat down next to it.

"Even though that means pretty much every single ghost-type out there, there's another thing that gives us hint," Grovyle continued, putting one last piece of firewood into the pit.

"Another hint?" I was getting curious now.

"Yes..." Grovyle took place next to us. "Everyone of us had a nightmare, correct?"

The fire-type next to me and I nodded in union. "Yeah."

"From that little fact, we know that the Pokemon must've had the ability to influence other Pokemon's dreams. Dream Eater or Nightmare would be moves that could cause nightmares like those we experienced." the grass-typd carried on. "Meaning that it probably was a Gengar or a Haunter... Dream-influencing moves are very common among their species."

His expression turned even more serious than before. "But there's also another possibility. I've read a book about a certain kind of Pokemon that has the ability to cause nightmares simply by being near someone while they're asleep."

"Just by being near them?" Ozu questioned with a surprised look.

A sigh escaped Grovyle's mouth and he seemed to be embarassed all of a sudden. "Yes... But I don't remember the name nor how the Pokemon looked like."

"So were just as clueless as before..." I responded, being somewhat disappointed.

"We know that we should be more careful from now on," Grovyle replied and faced the Chimchar next to me. "Anyway, do you think you're able to go through a dungeon?"

"Yeah!" Ozu answered.

"Are you sure?" I questioned with a concerned look.

"I'll just let you handle the wild Pokemon and try not to get into any trouble," he replied.

"Alright then... Can you light up this fire really quick? Now that our equipment is back, we can have a proper meal and head out afterwards." Grovyle said with a smile.

After Ozu lit up our campfire with a Flamethrower, I finished the bandage on his chest. In the meantime, Grovyle grabbed his backpack and pulled out a couple of apples.

"By the way..." the grass-type began, handing one of the fruits to Ozu. "How did you manage to bring up your Blaze?"

My partners expression turned sad for some reason. "I... It's a trick I learned from my Dad."

Ozu had never talked about his parents before. In general he evaded the topic about the time before he found me. It always bugged me a little but I didn't want to press him to talk about things he felt uncomfortable with.

"Blaze normally activates when I'm exhausted and under a lot of stress... My Dad taught me that I could trick my body with a strong signal of pain and activate it anytime I want it to," he explained.

"Did he also teach you how to use Flare Blitz?" I asked.

"Yeah... The training for it wasn't really pleasant and overall I didn't like to train with him." His gaze fell onto the apple in his hands. "Can we talk about something else? I don't really want to talk about that topic right now..."

Grovyle and I reacted with a short moment of silence before my old partner spoke up again. "Ehm... Alright. Let's finish our meals and head into the forest," he said, handing a red fruit to me.

...

We quickly ate our 'breakfast' and prepared ourselves to head deeper into the forest. After a quick check on our supplies, which consisted of a variety of berries, some suppies for first-aid, a few rations of food and a single Quick Seed, everyone was ready to head out. When the three of us left the clearing, my pouch was back on it's original place and Ozu's bag was strapped around my back as I didn't want him to carry a heavy backpack in his injured state.

An awkward silence was hanging in the air while we stumbled through the woods... None of us seemed to be in the mood to talk. Grovyle was constantly busy with checking our surroundings for possible stalker. Ozu seemed to be lost in his thoughts and had his gaze locked on the floor in front of him.

Talking about his father must've been uncomfortable for him. I wondered what could've been behind his silent behavior but didn't want to bother him.

I had my own problems.

'Great... Some strange stalker, of who we have no idea whether he's friendly or not, is following us... Ri is dead and both, Ozu and me, are balming ourselves for it...' A sigh left my throat while I gave the Chimchar next to me a quick glance. 'Ozu... He doesn't remember... I should be glad. If he knew we would have another thing to worry about... I guess keeping this to myself until there's a better moment is the right thing to do right now.'

My eyes fell onto Grovyle. 'And he... He's probably thinking the completely wrong thing about Ozu and me. Ugh, I hope we'll find Celebi soon and manage to get back to the past.'

The strange 'dungeon feeling' ran over my body when we stepped through the invisible barrier of the Mystery Dugeon. I pushed my thoughts away while the scenery around us changed.

'Here we go...'

* * *

**End of Chapter - 31**

* * *

_Gotta work on dem ships..._

_Can you guess who brought back their gear?_

_Also... Who's her? Any ideas, dear reader?_


	32. Establishment of a teamwork

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 32 - Establishment of a teamwork**

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

After Cobal had carried all the unconscious Pokemon on the clearing back to their tent, bandaged their wounds and set up a fire in their fire-pit, the two of us took place on the tree trunks that were placed around the campfire.

A wince left my mouth while I sat down. The Sitrus Berry's pain-killing effect slowly faded and a constant stinging appeared on my stomach.

"Are you okay?" A concerned Lucario questioned from my right when he noticed my pained expression.

"Yeah... It's fine..." I assured, clutching the bandage on my belly with my right paw.

My gaze fell onto the three Pokemon that were now laying in front of the tents to my left. Corrine only had a couple of band-aids on his well done fur. Celsius whole upper body and Siavon's stomach were covered in bandages.

"What do you intend to tell them?" Cobal questioned, making me face him again.

"The truth," I simply replied.

"What if they don't believe you? Ri... There are so many things that could go wrong," the knight said, giving me a worried look.

A forced smile appeared on my face. "Don't worry that much... I'm sure they'll listen to us when they hear the whole story."

The Lucario frowned. "Please... You're being naive."

"I know, and I don't care... I just don't want to lie anymore." My expression turned a little sad.

Cobal folded his arms and gave me a serious look. "We can't continue like this... We don't even have the first Time Gear and you're already severely injured. I'm willing to assist you but we have to be smarter with our next approaches."

"And with smart you mean willing to take a life if necessary?" I glared at the fighting-type. "Would you really have killed them, just to get up to Fogbound Lake?"

"I-" The Lucario broke eye contact. "I'm sorry... Killing them would not have been right, but..." He stopped there and kept silent.

"But what?" I repeated.

The fighting-type faced me and turned serious again. "I think I said this before... If taking one life could save thousand lives, wouldn't you try to save the thousands? Those three were in our way and endangered the success of your mission, therefore endangering the lives of millions."

"That's still no reason to kill them!" I snapped in response. "Taking one life to save millions? That's bullshit! What if that one Pokemon is someone close to you?! A friend? Someone that's important to you?!"

Cobal's eyes widened for a moment before his expression became sad for some reason and his head fell down.

The way he turned silent all of a sudden made more concerned than angry. "Uhm... What's wrong?"

"I... It's nothing." He reached his paw into one of the pouches. "I'm sorry... You're right... I won't act rash like this again." The Lucario then pulled out a Sitrus Berry and swallowed it whole. Most of the bruises that still covered his body disappeared and the burn on his chest seemed to shrink in size a bit. "Ehm... Is it okay with you if I ask why you dislike the thought of killing somebody that much?", he asked, facing me again.

His question made me blink and left in deep thoughts for a moment. 'Why I can't stand the thought of killing somebody?' It simply felt wrong to me but I couldn't tell exactly why. There was a strange feeling at the back of my head whenever I thought about the topic but I wasn't able to describe it properly. But now that he specifically asked that question... After folding my arms and thinking about the whole thing again, I knew what kind of feeling it was.

"Guilt," I muttered to myself in a sad tone. 'But why would I feel guilty? Did I do something bad before I lost my memories? Ugh... Why does this have to be so complicated?'

"It just feels wrong to me," I finally responded, unfolding my arms.

Cobal responded with silence, his expression not changing, however, something in his eyes told me that he still had questions.

...

"Uhm... How's that burn on your chest?" I asked, trying to change the topic... Both of us seemed to be uncomfortable with the current one.

Cobal rubbed his chest and looked at the unconscious Kirlia next to us. "It just stings a little... If the Eevee wouldn't have powered her up with a Helping Hand, that kick wouldn't have left a mark like that."

"Hmm... Corrine was pretty tough in general... First he copied my Extremespeed and then he used Torment so we couldn't use our moves properly," I commented.

Going over the recent fight again, a couple of odd situations came to my mind. I looked down at my charred left arm. "By the way... My left arm didn't get burned when... Uhm... Celsius's flames touched it..."

Cobal looked a little surprised. "Really? You're a steel-type, so fire attacks should've dealt a lot of more damage to you..."

"Actually, I didn't even feel the heat," I added, stoking the skin on my arm with my right paw.

"You didn't feel the heat? Wait, do even feel anything with that arm?" the Lucario questioned with an interested look.

"If you think that the nerves have been damaged from the burn, I think I have to disappoint you. My arm feels just as good as my right one," I answered, balling my paw into a fist and opening it again a couple of times.

"I see... Hmm..." The knight folded his arms. "A complete resistance to heat... There's an ability called Heat Proof that would cause such an effect... But our species isn't able to get this ability, so I have no idea how your arm could mimic it."

"That's odd..." I replied. "Any thoeries what could've caused this Heat Proof arm?"

"Sadly... No," he answered, shaking his head. "Although it's really interesting that even you special mark has something special about it."

I sighed in response. "Great... Another mystery."

'I could ask Chimecho or maybe even Nelik why it isn't affected by fire...'

...

"Are you sure that you're alright?" the Lucario asked back. "I've seen how you flinched just now... It hurts, doesn't it?"

"I've been worse... In those few weeks I remember, I already had a broken rib and nearly died because I almost ran out of aura two times," I replied, trying not to show that I really was in pain.

Cobal looked at my right paw. "Oh, I remember... That symbol on your paw drained your aura somehow." His expression turned worried when he made eye-contact again. "Do you think that it will do it again? You're in no condition to lose any more of your aura."

Turning around, I examined the time-frozen rock-formation behind me. "But maybe we'll be able to find out why it does that... We have to get up there first though..."

"There's also still a dungeon between us and Fogbound Lake... Are you really sure you're up to it?" the Lucario questioned in a concerned tone.

"We still have time until those three wake up, don't we? By the time we sorted everything out, I'm sure I'll have had enough rest," I answered with a forced smile. My body told me otherwise... The stinging on my belly had become worse and didn't seem to fade away anytime soon.

"If you say so..." Cobal returned.

...

The estimated while only turned into a couple of minutes as Corrine's body suddenly stirred around and grunts escaped the Eevee's mouth.

My partner tensed up while both of our gazes locked onto the slowly waking normal-type.

Corrine's eyes opened with a pained expression. He blinked a couple of times, rose his head and inspected his surroundings until his eyes met mine and a shocked look appeared on his face. "Y-you!"

"Uhm... Hi," I said, trying to sound calming. "How are you?"

The Eevee responded with a confused look and took a quick glance at the two unconscious Pokemon next to him. "Why would you...?" Corrine cleared his throat and got back onto his feet. "I'm okay. Thank you for asking... May I ask why you helped us?"

"Because I wanted to talk with you..." I answered.

"I presume you want to persuade us into believing your story about Temporal Tower..." he replied with a faint frown.

"Would you at least hear me out this time? I think not leaving you and fixing your wounds shows that we aren't as bad as you think we are," I pleaded.

The Eevee seemed to be in deep thought for a moment...

"Well, it certainly struck me as unusual that the one who supposedly intended to destroy the world objected so harshly to the thought of killing. I suppose after all that's happened, it would be unbecoming of me not to hear you out," Corrine replied. He then smiled slightly. "Besides, I couldn't stop you even I wanted to," he added with a somewhat nervous glance towards Cobal.

A smile appeared on my face and the Lucario next to me relaxed again. "Thank you."

"We should wait until you friends wake up before we begin..." Cobal suggested, looking at the still unconscious Kirlia and Haxorus. "Explaining ourselves three times would take longer than waiting for those two and telling your story once. Are you okay with that?"

"Fine by me," I answered.

Corrine simply nodded to this. He then looked at my bandaged stomach with an apologetic look. "Are you okay? We might have been a little too harsh with our approach to stop you."

I shook my head and forced a grin onto my lips. "I've been worse. I think I said this before but it takes a lot more than two cuts to bring me down," I said, trying to ignore the constant throbbing from my belly. 'This still hurts like hell though.'

The Eevee responded with a half-hearted smile. "It's nice to see that you don't hold a grudge against us but I still think that a proper excuse from our side would be adequate... Using Torment and letting Siavon injure you like that wasn't nice after all." He gave his team members a quick glance before he turned back with a serious expression on his face. "I think I can speak for the three of us when I say that we're sorry," he said, slightly lowering his head.

Him mentioning Torment made me break eye-contact for a moment... The thoughts that he had put into my mind were still flying around at the back of my head. 'He wasn't wrong about it... I did betray my friends...' A faint feeling of guilt was coming over me before I let out a sigh and answered him. "Apology accepted."

Cobal cleared his throat and looked at Corrine. "Ehm... There are some things I would like to ask you. Are you okay with that?"

The Eevee sat down and nodded. "What would you like to ask?"

"We have the intention of collecting the other Time Gears as well, so I would like to know who is guarding the other three gears," the Lucario next to me asked.

Corrine looked like he was debating to answer for a moment but quickly cleared his own throat and gazed at me. "Magnezone only contacted the strongest and most famous teams to fulfill this job. Our team isn't really famous but we are known for our unique tactics with Ally Switch... Aside from us, there was Team Raider, Team Charm and Team AWD..."

'Team Raider and Team Charm... I've heard of them before. They are supposed to be the strongest teams out there... But Team AWD... Who are they?'

"Team Raider was sent to Crystal Cave, Team Charm to Limestone Cavern and Team AWD to Quicksand Desert," the Eevee continued.

"Uhm... Who exactly are Team AWD?" I threw in.

"Those were some shady guys... They have an Arbok, a Drapion and a Weavile who's supposed to be their leader," Corrine answered. "Team Charm consists of a Lopunny, a Gardevoir and a Medicham..."

"Team Raider is made up of a Gallade, a Ryperior and a Roserade," Cobal finished for him. "This is bad... We can't face them head on like we did with those three...", he said, giving me a stern look.

I responded by returning his stare. "I know that this was stupid but I still don't want to lie to them."

"Ehm... I have a question, regarding that topic," Corrine said before an argument between Cobal and me could start. "It's hard for me to understand why you exposed your true identity to us like that... You had the perfect disguise, your evolved form and that charred arm... A fake name and lying about you being at the Expedition and there would've been no way that we would've found out who you really are."

A sad look wandered onto my face while memories about my friends rushed through my mind and I lowered my head. "So far I've only had bad experiences with lies... My friends, the guild,... Everybody had to suffer because I didn't tell them about me until it was already too late. If I had told them, Riley and Ozu would still be here and nobody from the guild would've had to be hurt..."

"I see... You're feeling guilty for hurting your friends," the Eevee replied. "I'm sorry... Tormenting you must've brought back a lot of bad memories."

Before I could respond to this, we started to hear grunts from the two unconsious Pokemon next to him. Both, Celsius and Siavon seemed to slowly wake up as their bodies were shifting and moans of pain left their mouths. The Kirlia opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times while she rose herself into a sitting position.

After turning her head towards us, she gasped. "W-whoa!" The psychic-type flinched and her left eye shut once more as she still must've felt some pain from her injuries. "Ouch..." Celsius rubbed her back and gave the Eevee in front of her a questioning look.

In the meantime, Siavon had also gotten into a sitting position and was rubbing his probably still sore stomach with a confused expression on his face.

"Are you two alright?" their team-member asked in a concerend tone.

"Yeah," Celsius hesitantly answered while Siavon only turned his head to the Eevee, giving him a quick nod.

"Mind to tell us what's going on here?" The Haxorus got onto his feet and narrowed his gaze on Cobal.

"Those two fixed us up and waited for us to wake up again," Corrine began to explain. "Alone from that I think we can say that they might not be as bad as we thought they were. Ri here wants to convince us that her story about Temporal Tower is true..."

Both of them seemed to process this for a moment and debated about listening to me until they agreed and took place on the log next to the one Cobal and I were sitting on.

"Thank you..." Taking a deep breath, I collected my thoughts. "Alright, everything started when..."

...

I began to tell them how Grovyle found me at Treeshroud Forest and the things he told me about the future. When I came to the part with Temporal Tower, Dialga and Dusknoir, Corrine had a question.

"So you're telling us that Dusknoir is supposed to be the servant of this being of darkness called Primal Dialga... This Pokemon wants to keep the world in darkness and therefore does everything to stop you from preventing the fall of Temporal Tower," the Eevee repeated in a questioning tone.

"That's right... And taking the Time Gears from their place only stops time until they're brought to the tower. The energy that's stored in them can repair it and return everything to normal," I replied.

"This actually sounds pretty believable, doesn't it?" Celsius commented, receiving a quick glance from her team-members and a smile from me.

"Where was I? Right... So after Grovyle told me everything about the future..."

...

I continued my story and told them about my adventures with Grovyle, about Limestone Cavern, meeting the real Riley and Ozu and about the Expedition.

"Wait, so it's because of you that the fog is gone?" the Kirlia interrupted.

"Actually, it's because of my frie-" I hesitated for a moment while a sad look wandered onto my face. "Uhm... Riley found out about the secret of the statue because of the Dimensional Scream I mentioned before..."

"I have read something like this in the report they have shown us... Riley the Pikachu solved the secret of unveiling the fog of the forest," Corrine responded. "There was no information how she did it though... It's pretty interesting that she used an ability like this."

Taking another deep breath to calm myself again, I continued my story. "Anyway, after the Expedition, I spent some time at Treasure Town..."

...

I carried on with the days I had spent in Treasure Town until the day Dusknoir showed up at the guild and the whole lying thing started. After that I told them about the events that happened at Crystal Cave and how I was thrown into the portal to the future.

...

"When they threw me in, I had this strange sensation all over my body while I went through the portal. Right after I realized that I was still in this time, laying in the bushes behind the damn thing, I lost consciousness... The next thing I remembered was that I woke up inside of a cave as a Lucario with this charred arm."

"Does that mean that this portal made you evolve?" Celsius asked before a wide smile wandered onto her face. "Can I evolve too if I try to jump through a portal like that?"

The Eevee next to her frowned and put his paw onto his face, shaking his head in the process.

"Uhm... Yeah... I'm not sure how it happened... But well, here I am," I replied. "When I got out of the bed I was laying on, Cobal here entered the cave and asked me some questions... It turned out that I'm supposed to be some kind of time traveling hero called the Spirit of Faith."

"Spirit of Faith?" Siavon repeated, much to everyone's surprise. The dragon-type seemed to be in deep thought for moment until his eyes widened and his gaze locked onto me. "I've heard that name before... It's some kind of folklore in Alteal."

"That's right... The Pokemon that's described in it is a Lucario with a charred left arm," Cobal clarified. "Somehow, she has appeared several times in the past. Whenever there was some kind of catastrophe threatening our land, she always showed up out of nowhere and prevented the crisis."

"In the past? How does that even work?" Celsius seemed to be slightly confused by all of this.

"That's the thing... We don't know," I continued. "I've lost my memory, so I have no idea how I was supposed to have done those things..."

"Oh... So does this mean that you came to this time to help those two other Pokemon, which also come from another time?" Corrine combined.

"Most likely... How I ended up as a Riolu and how I lost my memory is still a mystery though," I replied in a sad tone.

The three processed this for a moment until I decided to continue my story with the day I spent at Cobal's tribe... Although I left out the part where Sylee dragged me up onto the cliff at the border of the village and tried to kiss me. After that I told them how my partner and I visited Wigglytuff's Guild.

...

"He told me that he would handle things at Treasure Town and try to find the location of Temporal Tower," I explained.

"Why didn't you speak with Magnezone and the other authorities before you left then? You could've avoided this whole fight if they would have given you a permission letter or something," Siavon asked.

A nervous laugh left my mouth. "Uhm... I kind of didn't want to cause an uproar at the guild," I answered, rubbing the back of my head before a sad look wandered onto my face. "Everybody at the guild is probably still mad at me... Apologizing to everyone and explaining the whole situation would have taken a lot of time. And Magnezone... Persuading him that my story is true... Who knows how long they would've have kept us in Treasure Town."

Letting out a deep sigh, I told them the rest of events that had happened up to this point.

...

"And that's it..." I finished my story and gave the three Pokemon a hopeful look. "So... Will you believe us?"

Corrine, Siavon and Celsius exchanged quick glance until the Eevee spoke up again. "This sounds very, very far-fetched but considering your honesty up to this point... You don't seem to be lying and as Celsius mentioned before, the explanation for taking the Time Gears is believable." The normal-type looked at the Kirlia next to him. "What do you think?"

The psychic-type put her hand to her chin and seemed to think about everything one more time. "Hmm... Yes... I believe her," she answered with a wide grin, which I immediately returned.

"And you?" Corrine questioned, looking at the Haxorus next to him, who was gazing into the distance again.

Siavon seemed to not care about this at all as he only moved his head to put me into his sight and nodded. "Yeah, why not?"

"I guess it's decided then," the normal-type said, facing me with a smile. "We believe you."

"Thank you," I replied, letting out a sigh of relief.

"So... What are you two planning to do now? Should we help you with Uxie or...?" he questioned.

Folding my arms, I thought about the best thing to do right now. 'Hmm... Should we ask them for help? It would be more likely that Uxie believes us when those three are with us. But what if he doesn't? They are injured already and if we end up fighting Uxie, they might get hurt again... There has to some other way they can help us... Hmm...'

"No... I would like you to head back to Treasure Town and report to Wigglytuff that we have made it to the first Time Gear," I answered. "Once he has cleared up everything with Magnezone, he'll probably send some messengers to the other teams... It would be good if the three of you could do that job... If he hasn't already sent somebody."

"So you want us to get the other teams and Time Gears and meet up at Treasure Town?" Corrine replied.

"Uhm... Yes! That would be great," I responded with a smile.

"Hmm... I have a plan," the Eevee looked at Celsius. "Can you create a telepathic link with her? That way we can inform her on the current situation in Treasure Town and talk about our next steps."

"Can you do that? That would be great! We could tell you which Time Gear we would go for next and you could tell us when you have the other gears!" I cheered.

Celsius got up from the log she was sitting on and walked over to me, holding her hand out for a fist-bump. "It will only hurt a little," she teased with a wink.

I wasn't quite sure if she was joking or not. She was smiling at me, but somewhere in her eyes I could see something that made me feel a little uneasy. Hesitantly holding out my fist, I prepared myself for the worst.

When our fists made contact, a strange feeling rushed through my whole body. After a couple of seconds, Celsius retreated her hand and gave me a smile.

_All done!_

Her mouth didn't move, but I was still able to hear her voice. 'What the...?'

For a moment I just stared at her with a confused look until the Kirlia suddenly gave me a mischievous grin.

_So you really want something from that Grovyle._

"W-what!?" I almost yelled at her as my cheeks began to heat up. "No! How do you-"

The other three Pokemon's eyes locked on me and even though they didn't hear Celsius's words, I still felt even more embarrassed.

The Kirlia laughed._ No need to deny it! I took a little peek into your mind before I made the link._

"NO! It's not like that!" I shot up from the log I was sitting on, receiving me a painful sting from my stomach. My eyes shut tight and I clutched the bandage on my belly with my right paw. "Ugh! God dammit!"

"Whoa, watch out!" Cobal quickly rushed to my side and supported me until the pain subsided and I was able to give the Kirla in front of me a glare.

"Was it really necessary to look into my mind?" I growled at her, the hotness already leaving my cheeks again.

Corrine's eyes widened and focused on the Kirlia, giving her an angry look. "Celsius! What did we say about you and looking into other people's minds?"

"Sorry! It was just too tempting!" the psychic-type replied, giving me an apologetic look.

Shaking my head, I sat down again. "If you tell anyone about this I'll beat you into oblivion." A sigh left my mouth while the Lucario next to me sat down as well.

"'Beat you into oblivion'? I believe the correct phrasing is 'expeditiously remove you from this universe in an excrutiatingly painful way'," Corrine responded, putting a frown onto the Kirlia's face.

"Just who's side are you on?" She turned around and pouted at the normal-type who simply shrugged.

"You brougt this upon yourself," he replied in an unconcerned tone.

"Don't worry, you'll still be a part of this universe but he's right that it's going to be very, very painful," I corrected, giving her a madman-like grin. "Anyway, how does this whole link thing work?"

"Well, it's pretty simple! I can send thoughts, emotions and even images into your mind... The way you contact me is pretty simple as well. All you have to do is think 'loud' enough for your thoughts to reach me. The same goes for images and emotions... Just focus hard enough on them so that I receive a signal from your end," the psychic-type explained.

_Go ahead, try it!_

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on my thoughts. 'Are you really able to hear each of my thoughts?'

"If you don't focus on actually sending them, I'm not," Celsius answered, making me open my eyes again.

"It works," I confirmed. Just when I said those words, a throb shot out from my wounds.

"Are you okay?" everyone asked as they all noticed my pained expression.

"I'm okay... Just a little sting." The pain had already become bearable again. They gave me concerned looks until my expression turned normal again and a sigh escaped my mouth. "I guess that's what comes out if you face opponents as strong as you," I continued. "Celsius with her Fire Punch... Corrine with Torment... Siavon with his Battle Armor... Ally Switch... You really caused us a lot of trouble in that fight."

"You weren't bad either!" Celsius replied before she gave Cobal an angry look. "How did you manage to see through my Double Team that easily?"

The Lucario next to me sniggered. "I assume that you have an ability called Trace?"

"Yes, I do," the Kirlia confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"You had the misfortune of tracing Ri's Aura Garment instead of an ability that could've brought you an actual advantage," he explained. "Aura Garment forms a hull of aura around the users body, so it was very easy for me to follow your movements."

Celsius appeared to think about it for a moment. Then she nervously rubbed the back of her head. "I must've been glowing like a beacon! Ah, that's kind of embarrassing." She sweatdropped. "I must've looked really stupid..." The Kirlia then looked at me with a confused look. "But wait, why did Double Team work on Ri, then? You're both Lucario."

"Uhm... Unlike him, I'm not really able to see aura," I explained, actually feeling a little embarrassed. "Apparently I'm a breed of Lucario that focuses more on using aura for attacks than sensing it." I let out a sigh. "By the way, how did you know that we're able to use Extremespeed and that I'm supposed to know Dragon Pulse?", I asked Siavon, who had been gazing into the distance again.

"Anticipation... It took me quite a while to learn how to muster my enemies strength like that..." the dragon-type explained. "It is really strange that I can still feel your full power, even though you've lost your memory."

"Oh, oh, oh! I wanted to ask you something too!" Celsius exclaimed, getting my attention. "How were you able to touch the flames around my hand without even flinching?"

I rubbed the back of my head with my right paw and held out my left one to her. "I'm not sure either! Somehow my arm is heat proof... That's why I didn't even feel the heat from your fire."

Everyone's eyes locked onto my arm and as usual, the staring made me a little angry. "Alright, enough staring," I said, pulling my left arm back and covering it with my right one.

"Oh! And how did you get the idea to lift Corrine off his feet and..."

We continued to talk about various situations from our recent fight, everyone giving off comments and opinions.

When we came to the part where Siavon used what turned out to be Guillotine, I scolded him for about a minute. The move could have killed me and tore a small ravine into the forest.

The part where Cobal got hit by Attract and I tried to get him out of his trance turned a little embarrassing for me.

"She even hit you square in the face one time!" Celsius explained to Cobal.

The Lucario rubbed his cheek and growled at me. "So that's why my face hurt so much after I came back to myself."

I let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry!"

After a couple of minutes of chatting, Corrine cleared his throat and started to talk about more important things again.

"So when should we execute our current plan? We have our badges and only need to pack up our tents before we're back to Treasure Town. If you head up there now, you should have the Time Gear at the same time we arrive at Wigglytuff's guild," the Eevee said.

"Do you think you're up to it?" the knight next to me asked in a concerned tone.

I nodded and slowly got up from the log, trying not to make my stomach light up in pain.

Cobal stood up too and both of us walked a bit towards the time-frozen rock formation before we turned around to face the other three Pokemon, who had gotten up as well.

"Uhm... I guess it's good-bye for now then," I said, giving each of the three Pokemon a close look one last time.

"It seems like it," Corrine replied in a polite tone.

"Too bad I didn't get my date with you!" Celsius winked at Cobal, who returned an unimpressed glance.

"You can still ask for a rematch, so nothing is lost yet!" I responded, poking my partners side.

The knight simply sighed. "I would rather not be the price of a bet like this again." This resulted in a laughter from the Kirlia and me.

"Oh! Something else before we leave! We never caught your team's name," I said.

All of a sudden, the Eevee's expression turned pale and a huge smile appeared on Celsius's face. Siavon on the other hand was staring into the distance... Again.

"We're Team W-" The Kirlia was cut off by Corrine. "Our team-name isn't really that important! It's just a boring, standard name and you already know each of our names, so... Yeah!" he almost yelled with a nervous voice.

Celsius pushed the normal-type aside. "It's Team W-" He interrupted her again.

"Celsius, do I have to remind you about a certain incident that no one should know about?" he snapped, giving the Kirlia a dead-serious stare.

She seemed to be startled for a moment but quickly put on her mischievous grin again. "Corrine, do I have to remind you that this incident was your fault too?"

'Incident? What are they talking about?'

The two Pokemon were just about to start an argument, when Siavon suddenly spoke up. "Team Work."

"Team... Work?" It took me a second to process this.

Corrine seemed to want to sink into the ground from embarrassment while the psychic-type next to him hectically jumped from one leg to the other, beaming at me with a wide grin. "Pretty cool, huh?"

I wasn't sure if I should burst out in laughter or sweatdrop to this. My body wasn't really in the condition to properly laugh so I simply went for a short chuckle. "It's... Uhm... Quite unique."

The Lucario next to me responded similar to me as only a faint grin formed on his face.

Corrine sighed and faced me again. "Celsius came up with it... That's what you get when you leave her alone with the papers to hand in our information."

...

"Well, I hope we will hear from you soon... Team Work." With that everybody said good-bye one last time and Cobal and me headed towards the entrance of Steam Cave.

* * *

Before we could even reach the border to the timeless are, I received my first message from Celsius.

_Oh! By the way, if you want to discard the link, you only have to contact me and I'll dissolve it. Not that we would want to dissolve it until we have the Time Gears but I'm just saying! One important side-note though... It will also dissolve if one of us dies so... Better watch out for that._

'I would rather not see something like that happen... I'll hear you later.' I replied, turning around to give the Pokemon a quick glance.

_Okay! Bye!_

Cobal and I stopped right in front of the wall to the grey, time-frozen area.

"Ready?" the knight asked, giving me a faint smile.

"Let's go." As soon as I made my first step into the timeless area, a strange sensation appeared all over my body.

There was not a single sound coming from around us while we walked past the two giant waterfalls that ran up all the way to the top of the 'goblet'.

"This is so weird..." I commented, inspecting the pillars of water. Some of the ice from Celsius was still covering the bottom of the right waterfall.

When we reached the entrance to Steam Cave, I suddenly began to feel strange. It was similar to when I was near a Time Gear as a dizzy feeling swept across my senses and a severe headache formed inside of my skull.

'What? Why do I...?'

It was already dawning on me what was happening. Raising my right paw up to inspect it closer, I found that the symbol was already glowing. "Cobal... Look, it's the symbol."

"Huh? Didn't you say it only shows up when you're near a Time Gear?" My partner walked right next to me and inspected the strange mark with a curious look. "It really looks like a gear... Are you feeling dizzy again?

"Just a little..." I replied, trying not to worry him. "I wonder why it's already glowing. We're not even near the Time Gear yet."

"This is very strange indeed... Hmm... Let me see if it's draining your aura again," Cobal said as he walked closer, closed his eyes and held his paw towards me.

The aura sensors at the side of his head floated into the air and a bit of his life force radiated from his palm. "Hmm... The symbol is giving off some kind of energy and-" The Lucario stopped and opened his eyes while a surprised expression wandered onto his face. "Why are you converting?"

"Converting?" I gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"W-wait." His eyes darted back and forth from the symbol and my face. "Y-your Aura Garment, it's... No, not just that... Your whole aura is changing it's properties to match the energy from the symbol..."

"Really?" Somewhat startled, I inspected my paws a little closer. "Is that why I'm feeling so dizzy?"

"This isn't good... Changing your aura's attributes can have several effects on your body. The dizziness and the headache you mentioned are most likely one of them," the Lucario explained. "You should try to stop it. The changed aura seems to be absorbed by the area around us, meaning that you are literally throwing out all of your energy right now."

"How am I supposed to do that?! I wouldn't even know that I'm doing it if you hadn't told me!" I answered in a desperate voice. The headache was getting worse now and my vision began to turn a bit blurry.

The Lucario folded his arms and seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "Dissolve your Aura Garment," he ordered in a strict tone. "Most of the aura pours out from your garment and it's also the only way I can think of to cut your aura off from the outside world."

"Dissolve my Aura Garment? I have no idea how to do that either!" I replied.

"Close your eyes," the Lucario instructed.

I followed his order and closed my eyes.

"Alright... Now I need you to focus. See if you can feel something that feels like a thin piece of cloth that brushes against your body," Cobal continued.

It took me a while to understand what he was trying to tell me. My headache and the dizziness didn't really help me but after struggling to find the feeling Cobal described, I finally noticed something like an invisible force, floating around me.

"I'm feeling it," I said, careful not to lose my focus. (A/N: Shulk?)

"Good... Now try to push all the energy away from you," the knight carried on.

After another struggle to find out what he wanted me to do, I managed to find a way to push the aura that surrounded my body away from me. I took one deep breath before I concentrated on all the energy around me and threw it off with puff.

I opened my eyes again and met those of Cobal, who was giving me a smile. "It worked, your Aura Garment is gone."

Throwing off the hull of aura around me made me feel even weaker than before but luckily the dizziness and headache that plagued me disappeared. "The headache is gone too." A sigh of relief left my mouth.

The Lucario in front of me got serious again for some reason. "Some of your aura is still leaking out from the spot on your paw where the symbol is... You might be out of danger from running out of energy but the area still weakens you."

"What if my Aura Garment builds itself up again?" I asked, giving him a worried look.

"Don't worry about that... It will take some time for it to build up on its own," Cobal answered. "I can show you how to activate on your command after we leave here."

"Okay..." My gaze fell back down onto my right paw. The gear-shaped symbol was still glowing in its turquoise color.

'We're not even near the Time Gear but the symbol has already appeared again... Maybe it is affected because time has stopped in this area... Hmm... That would make sense...'

"There's something else you should be careful about... With you constantly, subconsciously converting your aura, I would advise against using any aura-based attacks while we dwell around here. In your current condition, even a simple Force Palm could leave you unconscious," the knight advised before he looked at the cave entrance in front of us. "We should hurry... Let me take care of any wild Pokemon in there."

At first I wanted to protest but just when I was about to open my mouth, a wave of pain shot out from my stomach once again. "Ugh... Uhm... Okay... Lead the way," I said, hiding my pain with a forced grin.

* * *

After only a few steps into the cave, the usual dungeon feeling rushed through my body and the scenery around us changed. Almost in an instant, the temperature rose by about twenty degrees and we found ourselves in a steaming room with a rocky floor and rocky walls. Geysers were scattered across the ground, pumping even more hot steam into the already overheated room.

It was probably due to my new steel-type but I felt way more uncomfortable in here than the last time. My injuries and weakened state made me feel even more miserable.

Cobal seemed to feel just as uncomfortable as I did. Both of us were already sweating.

"We should try to make this quick... Stay close," the Lucario instructed, leading us into the first hallway of the dungeon.

...

The layout of the floors wasn't very complex and we usually managed to find the staircase after only two rooms.

The wild Pokemon weren't a big problem either. Whenever a fire-type showed up, Cobal quickly dashed behind them and dissolved the clones with a swift slash of his sword.

After what felt like only a couple of minutes, we made it to the 'safe-zone' between the first and the second part of the dungeon.

...

The area was way less hot and gave us a great opportunity to have a short rest. Cobal and me had just sat down on a couple of rocks when we suddenly heard a loud roar that echoed out from the opening next to us. "GROOOUUH!"

My partner was startled by it. "What was that?"

"That's just Uxie, trying to scare us with his Groudon clone," I explained. Now that I knew that it was just a trick to keep intruders away, it was more annoying than threatening.

"I see... Ehm... Does your wound give you any trouble? The heat is a great strain for your body, so you should tell me if it's too much for you," the knight replied.

"For now I can handle it... Let's just get through this dungeon," I said, forcing a smile onto my face.

...

After a couple of minutes of rest, we continued on our way to Fogbound Lake and entered the second part of Steam Cave.

Just like last time, we now found evolved forms of the many fire-types that roamed the dungeon and their puny Embers turned into powerful Flamethrowers. Not that that was a problem for my partner. Most of the time, the wild Pokemon didn't even get the chance to inhale before the knight struck them down.

It only took us about half an hour to reach the last staircase and leave the dungeon.

* * *

Stepping out of a cave, we found ourselves at the top of the goblet-shaped rock formation. In the middle was the familiar barrier that blocked off the view on Fogbound Lake. Several holes were scattered across the structure, a stream of frozen water coming out of each of the openings. The rivers ran over the sides of the plateau, forming the waterfalls that fell down to the base of the goblet.

"Pretty impressive," Cobal commented, inspecting our surroundings.

I was just about to draw his attention to the huge opening in front of us when a roar echoed out of the entrance. "GROOOUUH!" Just like last time, the earth suddenly began to shake and the familiar imitation of a Groudon walked out of the passage to Fogbound Lake.

The fake ground-type roared into the air and locked its eyes on my partner and me. "I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOGB-!"

"Cut it out, Uxie! I know that this Groudon is just an illusion!", I interrupted the Groudon, slowly walking towards it.

"Ri! Wait! What if-" Cobal tried to stop me but was interrupted too.

"Calm down, I'll handle this," I said, ignoring the pain on my belly and giving him a grin.

The massive Pokemon blinked and was obviously startled before it shook its head and focused again. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I AM GROUDON! THE CREATOR OF CONTINENTS!"

Stopping right in front of the illusion, I looked up into its eyes and gave it a smile. "Remember me?"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 32**


	33. Quantum theories

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_This is the chapter where I reached 10.000 views on this story. _

_So I guess I'll take this as a chance to thank everyone that has been following the stuff that I'm writing._

_**Thank you for 10.000 views!**_

* * *

**Chapter 33 - Quantum theories**

* * *

**Riley's POV**

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The scenery around us changed and we found ourselves on the first floor of Dusk Forest. The floor was suddenly made up of grey soil, the trees around us changed into a wall of grey needle trees and above us appeared a ceiling of pale tree branches.

"Let's try to avoid any hostile Pokemon," Grovyle suggested, walking towards the first corridor. "I'll handle anything that comes at us but I need you to keep an eye on our backs." The grass-type turned his head to the side and gave me a smile. "Got it, Riley?"

"Yeah," I replied before I looked at Ozu, who was standing next to me. "I'll watch out for you, let's go."

The bandaged Chimchar nodded and we quickly followed after our friend who was already waiting in front of the hallway.

We mostly came across grass, poison and dark-types while the explored the dungeon. Grovyle managed to lead us around most of the threats but occassionally, one of the wild Pokemon noticed us. Although they weren't any problem for us, I was still worried about my partner, who still seemed to be absent and unwary. If I hadn't watched out for him, he probably wouldn't have noticed half of the Pokemon that tried to stop us.

After two floors, I was getting worried by Ozu's behavior.

...

"Hey, Ozu..." I said while I walked next to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Huh?" The Chimchar jumped a bit to my touch and had most likely been in deep thought.

"I asked what's wrong," I repeated, looking into his eyes. "You seem so absent."

"Oh, sorry..." He shook his head and seemed to push his thoughts away to focus again. "I'll keep my eyes open," he said with an obviously forced smile.

'Something is really bothering him...' I sighed and gave him a nod before I went back to the end of our party. 'Talking about his past must've really bothered him... And there's also the thing with Ri...' My thoughts shifted to the Riolu and the feeling of guilt welled up side of me again. Before I could lose myself in troubles like I did earlier, I quickly shook my own head and focused on the task at hand. 'Don't think about it. We need to get back to the past... We need to find Celebi.'

We cleared about four more floors until we came across a problem.

...

When we stepped into a room, a cloud of black smoke shot into the air and created a literal swarm of Murkrow. They were all swarming around a huge Honchkrow, which glared at us with red glowing eyes. To our dismay, we could see the staircase to the next floor right behind the vortex of crows. We had seen Monsterhouses before but this one was a little different.

"Get back into the corridor," Grovyle said to Ozu while he extended the leaves on his arms.

My partner hesitated for a moment but followed the order and stepped back into the hallway we just came from.

I, on the other hand, joined my old partner's side and prepared myself to fry the flying-type's with my Thunderbolts.

"Riley, I need you to create an opening for me to take out the big one," the grass-type instructed, getting into the very familiar battle pose, Ri used to use with her bones.

"G-got it." I shook my head to focus again.

The Honchkrow suddenly let out a loud roar that echoed through the room and a wave of flying-types shot into our direction.

"I'll take care of it!" I yelled as I ran forward and concentrated onto the electricity in my cheeks. Right before the Murkrow could reach me, I sent out a Thunderbolt that shot right into the swarm of birds.

They all exploded into a huge cloud of black smoke, occupying my vision on our main target. Just then I heard another roar from the Honchkrow and the second wave of flying-types flew out of the black cloud.

At first, I gasped and was a little startled but quickly dissolved them with another Thunderbolt.

"I'll try to get through from the left side!" I called at Grovyle, who was still standing on his previous spot. He seemed to be completely focused and ready to act at the first moment he would get a chance to strike. Knowing this, gave me a confident feeling while I took a deep breath and the usual sensation of using Agility swept over me.

The technique that Marowak had taught me was perfect for this situation. I flanked our oppenents with a swift dash that left only stirred up dust on the spot I had been standing on before I reappeared next to out target.

Now that I had a better position, had vision on the Honchkrow and was in reach to actually attack the flying-type, I focused my whole electricity into my next attack. With a loud blast, I shot out a bolt of lighting that rippled a huge hole into the swarm of Murkrow around their leader.

Right when the Honchkrow's red eyes met mine, Grovyle suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of the flying-type. My old partner quickly brought his blade to the birds throat and with an instant motion, cut the Pokemon's head off. It could still give off a shriek before its detached head and body faded into a smoke.

With what seemed to be the source of this odd Monsterhouse, the remaining Pokemon disappeared too and with loud puff, the whole room was empty again.

Grovyle landed back on the ground and I let out a sigh of releif while Ozu joined us from the hallway.

"Good job, Riley," Grovyle said while pulling his leaves back in and approached me. "You're pretty good at using Agility... You've almost been as fast as me just now."

"Thanks," I replied with a faint smile. "Marowak was pretty good at teaching it to me... The 'Lightning Step', how he used to call it, was a little tough but I guess I mastered that technique pretty good too."

"Lighting Step?" Grovyle repeated while a thoughtful expression wandered on his face. "You are talking about a dash at maximum speed that usually only leaves dust at the spot you started from? Hmm... The name fits pretty well."

"Yeah, you used it too just now! Ri-" I stopped there and a frowned. The Riolu had used it too... I never told her about it because I didn't want her to know about my trumpcard that I only learned to beat her...

"You two were great," Ozu said when he reached us, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Both, Grovvyle and I, gave him a smile before the grass-type started to walk towards the staircase to the next floor. "Come on you two, we're almost through."

...

The rest of the dungeon was cleared pretty easily and without any further mentionable obstacles.

After we finally left the Mystery Dungeon and found ouselves in the actual center of the forest, the scenery changed into a huge clearing that was littered with grey patches of soil and a couple of tree trunks.

We slowly made our way to the center of the area and inspected our surroundings. There was not a trace of a Pokemon that could've been Celebi.

"Is this where she's supposed to live?" Ozu questioned, scanning the clearing for any signs of the Pokemon.

"Yeah," Grovyle confirmed. "She's probably somewhere further ahead in the forest... Just wait a moment, she usually comes back here when she senses somebody famil-"

As if right on cue, a bright sphere of light suddenly appeared in front of us.

"Hello, Grovy!" The white sphere slowly faded into the air and revealed a pink, pixie-like creature that floated in the air. A confused look wandered onto my face as the Pokemon's form was somewhat familiar to me.

" And Ril-" Its gaze fell onto me and its look turned similar to mine. "Huh?"

"Is that..." Ozu started to ask but was quickly interrupted by our friend who took a step forward and pointed at the creature in front of us.

"This is Celebi," he explained with a smile.

The next thing was a little unexpected as Celebi suddenly flew straight into the grass-type and hugged him, almost throwing him off his feet. Grovyle immediately turned red before he hesitantly returned the embrace.

I couldn't help myself but let out a giggle to this scene.

She backed away a bit and brought her face in front of Grovyle's. "You screwed up, didn't you?"

"Y-yes... Dusknoir managed to go back in time too. He brought the Pokemon from the past on his side and captured us." The grass-type was now more embarassed than flustered.

"I see... It's always the same with him... By the way, who are those two?" she asked and looked at Ozu and me, still keeping her right arm slung around Grovyle's neck.

"Uuh... This might sound a little crazy but this Pikachu here is Riley," he stammered, seemingly still startled by the Celebi's touch.

"Riley? But she's a human!" The pixie broke contact with my old partner and floated closer to me. "How can you be Riley?" she questioned, giving me a close look.

"I woke up as a Pikachu a couple of weeks ago... The only thing I remembered was my name and that I used to be human." I pointed at the Chimchar next to me. "Ozu here found me and I joined a guild with him... I found out who I really am only a couple of days ago."

"But how...?" Her expression suddenly changed and her eyes narrowed while she inspected my whole body. "This is odd... You have this weird feeling to you." The Celebi then looked at Grovyle and Ozu. "Actually, all of you emit something really unusual."

"Unusual? What do you mean?" the fire-type next to me asked. Celebi suddenly flew closer to him and brought her head right in front of his, focusing her gaze on his lips.

Both, Ozu and me were startled by this. Ozu because it almost seemed like she was trying to kiss him and me because... Well... Because it almost seemed like she was trying to kiss him.

"Is there a reason why you have Paradox Traces all over you?" She rose her head again and faced Grovyle. "The Chimchar's lips, your shoulder, the Pikachu's stomach... Did you come across a time-anomaly?"

"Paradox traces? Time-anomaly? What are you talking about?" I was rather confused by this.

"Paradoxes are anomalies that can screw around with time in a lot of ways... They are events that logically shouldn't happen, yet they somehow occur anyways. They mostly occur when somebody with the ability to time travel messes with a timeline a little too much," she explained. "Explaining the whole quantum mechanics behind this would take us probably a couple of days, so I hope you're satisfied with this explanation."

"Uuh... Okay..." I was still a little confused but I now knew that we somehow came across a time-anomaly.

"Riley and me were attacked when you sent us back... I assume that this was caused by the blast inside of the portal... I also assume that the attack is the reason Riley turned into a Pikachu," Grovyle replied.

I nodded to this... We had already talked about his theory while we waited for Ozu to wake up again.

"Huh? But why do I have them on me too?" Ozu threw in with a confused look.

"This is strange..." The Celebi faced me and gave me a grin. "Maybe she gave you a kiss and rubbed some of them off on you?"

Almost immediately, a deep blush crept onto my face. Not only did she just say that I kissed Ozu, she also did it right in front of him.

Ozu turned just as red as I was when he realized it too. "B-but I never touched her with my lips!"

"T-that's right, we-" I stopped there for a moment and turned even redder as a fear of him learning about our kiss rose up. "W-we didn't have contact like that!"

"The only person I've-" The Chimchar gasped and slowly let his head sink down.

...

My expression turned grim when I understood what he was thinking about. 'The only person other than me he has kissed was Ri...'

"The only person you've what?" Celebi questioned.

"There was a friend with us when they took us to this future..." Ozu explained with a sad voice. "She's the only one I've... Ehm..." He turned red a bit and almost whispered the next part. "Kissed..."

I bit my lip. 'If don't talk now, they'll drag Ri into this and maybe we'll get to the false conclusion...' My gaze fell towards the ground in front of me while my inner conflict continued to rage. 'God dammit! If I wasn't even able to tell him when we were alone, how am I supposed to tell him in front of everybody?'

"He kissed her?" I could hear Grovyle mutter to himself while a surprised look wandered onto his face. Something about it was odd, though... I couldn't really tell what it was but there was another emotion in his eyes at the same time.

"A friend? Where is she then?" the pixie asked with a confused look, distracting me from my current thoughts and silencing our group for a moment.

Grovyle let out a deep sigh that had a tone of depression inside it. "She's dead..."

Ozu and me cringed to the words.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..." Celebi's expression turned a little sad.

"I think we have a bit of explaining to do too..." the grass-type continued and pointed at a group of tree trunks. "Let's sit down over there."

The four of us walked over to the sitting opportunities and took place on them.

"Immediately after you sent us back in time and Riley and me got seperated, I made my way to Treeshroud Forest..."

My old partner began to tell Celebi about how he had met Ri and how he thought that she had been me.

"Another human that stumbled into our world and turned into a Pokemon?" the pixie repeated with a thoughtful look on her face.

After the events of Limestone Cavern, Ozu and me continued with the story and told her about our time with the Riolu. When we came to the topic about the symbol on Ri's right paw, Celebi interrupted us.

"A symbol that looks like a Time Gear?" Celebi said in a surpised tone. "Did she say anything about it?"

"No... The only things we know about it, are that it only showed up whenever she was near a Time Gear and that it somehow drained her energy..." Ozu explained.

"So you found her at Treeshroud Forest and the Time Gear from there was gone... Also, your friend had a symbol on her paw that looked exactly like a Time Gear..." she concluded before she gave Grovyle a serious look. "That can't be a coincidence."

"I was thinking the same thing when I first heard about this symbol but now that she's not with us anymore, we can't really investigate any further," Grovyle replied.

The pixie put her hand up to her chin. "What about the body?"

"Dusknoir has..." It was a little hard for me to bring out the full sentence. "Disposed of her..." Just like before, guilt was welling up again but I managed to keep my cool and push the thoughts away.

"I see..." She put her hand back down a gave me a sad look. "Well, if she's the only one your Chimchar friend has touched with his lips before and she had something to do with the disappearance of a Time Gear, I think you've got your paradox."

"Ri was a paradox? How can a living thing be a paradox?" Grovyle asked.

"I have no idea... All kind of screwed up things can happen in a time knot," Celebi said, confusing us even more.

"What's a time knot?" I questioned while a slight headache started to form in my head.

"It has something to do with the destruction of Temporal Tower... Since the first crack formed in the structure, the fabric of time has changed," Celebi explained. "Imagine our timeline as a straight string of cloth... In a time knot, a lot of other timelines bind themselves around the first string, creating a bundle of messed up fluff."

"So you're saying is that time is really messed up right now..." Ozu tried to conclude.

"It is, yes... I mean, in our current timeline, time has completely stopped and yet there are still Pokemon running around in it. Normally this shouldn't be possible but somehow the anomalies in the time continuum keep us 'flowing'."

"This is just getting more confusing..." I frowned, trying to express my dislike for the whole topic by now.

"I agree... We should focus on the task at hand and head up to the passage of time," Grovyle responded, getting up from his tree trunk.

**~ Stop music**

Suddenly, Celebi hopped off her seat and flew in front of the grass-type. "Now, now, Grovy! You're gone for two months and then you won't even stay a while to keep me a little company?" she pouted.

He turned red a little.

"Grovy?" I let out a laugh.

The Pokemon that I now decided to call Grovy turned even more embarassed and glared at Celebi. "Did you have to remember her about that?"

Celebi turned around and smiled at me. "You laugh just like you did as a human!"

I returned it. "I do?"

She faced Grovyle again. "Tell you what, you stay one more 'night' here and the first thing we do next 'morning' is to head up to the passage of time."

The grass-type looked like he was was debating about it but after a while he let out a deep sigh and gave her a smile. "Okay... But only because it's you."

How he simply accepted her condition and the way he looked at her made me blink. 'Why would he just give in like that? First he wants to get back to the past as fast as possible and now he suddenly wants to stay another day here? And why is he looking at her like that? And what does he mean with 'Only because it's you'? It's almost like he-' My eyes widened when an idea on the reason behind this formed in my head.

"Should we really spend another day here?" Ozu asked. "What if Dusknoir's men find us?"

Before Grovyle could respond to this, I decided to do my old partner a favor and answer for him. "Hey, you're still injured and a little more rest would be good for you. I could also learn some more things about myself while we're here! Celebi sure has some other stories that _Grovy_ would want to hide from me." I gave the now sighing Grovyle a grin. "And if Dusknoir's men catch up to us, Grovyle and I will defeat them."

"You also have me on your side, so I think we should be good!" Celebi added with a confident smile. "They call me a legendary Pokemon for a reason, you know!"

"I see..." Ozu turned sad for some reason. "There's nothing to worry about with someone as strong as you."

My grin faded while the image of our lost friend popped into my head.

The Chimchar took a deep breath and looked at Grovyle. "Do we have some Sitrus Berries by any chance? Maybe they'll make me fit enough to join you if we have to fight."

"I might have one or two left... Let me see," the grass-type replied, putting his backpack down on in front of him.

"How about we have some lunch, now that you already have you bag open?" Celebi asked.

"Yes... That's a good idea," he answered before he moved his gaze on Ozu. "Mind to help me with a camp fire?"

...

While we had our lunch, we continued to chat about various things. Ozu and me told Celebi about some of our adventures while she returned some stories about the time I had spent with Grovyle and her.

She also clarified some more things about the whole time-anomalies topic... I was still confused most of the time but some things managed to get through and made sense to me.

Paradoxes could have multiple consequences. Time loops, where events in the past only happen because of events from the future and the trigger for the event endlessly contradicts itself with logic, overlapping timelines, where two events mangle into one messed up disaster and the worst case scenario, time scars, where a timeline completely breaks apart and rips a hole into the fabric of time.

She continued with some explanations on time travel related topics.

Because we were currently in a time knot, Celebi had lost her ability to travel to any point in time she wanted to as moving too far away from her current spot in time would lead to a very unpleasant death. This was also the reason why Primal Dialga could not move too far away from the current point in time, without causing a huge distortion that would most likely kill it as well.

When we finally were done with the topic, we continued with normal small-talk. Although we avoided to bring up Ri, we still told her some more things about the time we had spent with the Riolu.

My assumption that she might bring up more embarassing moments of Grovyle was true. He was completely red most of the time we talked about them.

I was really staring to like her... again? I wasn't quite sure why but somehow the psychic-type was very sympathic to me.

After what felt like two hours of chatting and bringing her up to date, our camp fire was slowly starting to die down, meaning that one of us had to collect some new wood.

...

"I'll get it," Ozu volunteered.

"You sure?" I asked, giving him a concerned look.

The fire-type nodded. "It's a good way to see if the berry worked. If I still feel sore after a bit of work, I'll know if I'm fit or not."

"I'll help you," Celebi said, getting up from her seat. "My wings feel a little stiff and I feel like going for a flight."

"Be careful... And don't go out too far!" Grovyle responded, his eyes locked on the pink pixie.

I was focused on Ozu while the two walked into the forest. For some reason, I felt really uneasy about them being alone together. When I realized what I was thinking, I shook my head. 'What is wrong with you? Why are you jealous? Ugh... This is Ri all over again...'

When they were out of our sight, I faced Grovyle and gave him a wide grin.

He responded with a confused look. "What?"

I kept on grinning for a moment until I decided to get straight to the point. "You like her, don't you?"

This obviously caught him off guard, as his mouth fell wide open and a blush crept onto his face. "What? No! W-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. The way you look at her, how you just accepted her condition on staying another day here. And the 'Only because it's you' thing? You'd have to be blind to not see that something is going on between the two of you," I clarified.

The grass-type lowered his gaze and fiddled around with his claws. For a moment he just stared at the ground in front of him. Something about it was strange though... It wasn't like he was simply trying to come up it with an answer... It seemed more like he was debating about something.

He let out a sigh. "I'm not sure... There just something about her... There are things I absolutely hate about her but there are also some thing that just won't get her out of my head."

"Why don't you tell her how you feel then?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know... Maybe it's because I never really knew what I really wanted... But now that-" He stopped there and turned sad for some reason. "Nevermind... Ehm... Now that we're on the topic, mind if I ask what the thing between the Chimchar and you was earlier?"

It was me who turned a little red now. "We were talking about Ri and... Ozu told me about his nightmare... He started to cry and well, I was just trying to comfort him."

"Are you sure that there is nothing between the two of you?" he further asked.

At first, I was a startled by his question and hesitated for a moment. "I... I'm human so even thinking about something like this is crazy... But... Somehow... I don't know... He's the first person I can remember and... Ugh... I don't know..."

Grovyle seemed to process this and let out a sigh... His expression turned serious and somehow the whole mood of our conversation changed in an instant. "Listen, Riley... I should've told you about this earlier..."

The atmosphere got more serious with every word.

"If we collect all the Time Gears and restore time-"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 33**

* * *

_*evil smirk*_


	34. The purple-eyed shadow

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

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**Chapter 34 - The purple-eyed shadow  
**

* * *

"If we collect all the Time Gears and restore time-" Grovyle started to say but was interrupted by a shout from our right.

"Riley, Grovyle!" Ozu's voice yelled out of the forest.

**~ BGM: Troubled - Persona 3 (Extended)**

Both Celebi and my partner ran towards us with worried looks on their faces. Ozu had a pile of firewood in his arms and something like a piece of paper could be seen in Celebi's hand.

Grovyle seemed to curse something under his breath. Whatever he was trying to tell me must've been important... I decided to ask him about it later before my attention shifted to the two approaching Pokemon.

The grass-type sighed and faced our friends. "What's wrong?"

"It happened again!" the Chimchar said when they reached us and placed the wood next to our fire pit.

"What happened again?" Grovyle questioned and immediately got his answer from Celebi, who held the paper in her hand out to him.

I got up from the log I was sitting on and inspected the paper.

_**Tell her.**_

"Tell her?" I read out loud as my eyes widened. "What the hell? It happened again?!" I gave the others a worried look. "Where did you find it?"

"We were just a couple of steps into the forest when we suddenly found a pile of firewood on the ground. When we walked up to it to pick it up, we found the note on top of the pile," Ozu explained.

Grovyle folded his arms and looked into the grey woods. "This is unbelievable... First our stalker brings back all of our gear and now this."

"How did he know we were looking for firewood?" I asked, getting even more worried. "We talked about getting new wood only a few minutes ago!"

"That's right... That's also what worries me the most," Grovyle replied. "If our stalker knew about this, it can only mean that he has been close enough to listen to our conversation."

"D-does that mean he could be listening to us right now?" Ozu asked, somewhat shocked by the thought.

"Celebi... Can you feel anyone around our clearing?" Grovyle questioned the psychic-type.

She shook her head. "I was paying attention to our surroundings since I arrived here and didn't feel anything... But there is something I feel about this note... It's covered in Paradox Traces, just like you."

"Paradox traces?" Ozu repeated with a confused expression. "Another time-anomaly?"

"If a time-anomaly had gotten close to us, I would've felt it for sure!" She frowned. "This really is unbelievable..."

Grovyle pulled out the previous note from his backpack. "Is this one covered in them too?"

Celebi nodded with a disappointed look on her face.

The grass-type folded his arms again and closed his eyes. "Hmm... Let's see... Our culprit is apparently connected to a time-anomaly and somehow able to completely hide his or her presence from us. We also know that they have the ability to influence other Pokemon's dreams."

"Influence other Pokemon's dreams?" Celebi asked in a confused tone. "How do you know that?"

"Oh, sorry... I should've told you about that detail earlier," Grovyle replied, opening his eyes. "Ehm... Last 'night', everyone of us had a nightmare. We know that there is a chance that this just might have been a coincidence but this is one of the only clues we have."

"You think your stalker gave you nightmares?" She seemed to be even more confused but after a moment, her eyes suddenly widened and a surprised look wandered onto her face. "Wait! I know a Pokemon that could've been the cause of those bad dreams!"

"Really?" I asked, getting a little excited.

"It's... Uuh..." She sweatdropped. "I don't remember the name..."

Grovyle, Ozu and me responded with sighs.

"But I know what it looks like! Its body is completely black, it has something like a red collar on its neck and something like white hair on its head!" she exclaimed, sounding somewhat desperate. "It has an ability called Bad Dreams that causes sleeping Pokemon around it to have nightmares."

I wasn't really able to form a picture in my head as I had no idea how the Pokemon's body was shaped or what kind of species it resembled.

"A completely black body, a red collar and white hair?" Grovyle repeated, looking like he was in deep thought.

"At least we know what our stalker looks like now, but we still have no idea what kind of Pokemon it is," Ozu responded in a sad tone.

"I think I do," Grovyle said, getting everyone's attention. A smirk formed on his face. "The name of the Pokemon... is Darkrai."

"Darkrai?" The name somehow made me feel a little uneasy... Someone who had the word "dark" in their name and caused nightmares didn't sound like very friendly.

"I just remembered a book I have read about Pokemon like Celebi here... Legendaries... There was a short paragraph about a Pokemon called Darkrai," the grass-type continued. "According to the book, it's a dark-type Pokemon, has a natural evil nature and is supposed to be connected to the new moon."

"Why would a Darkrai help us if it's supposed to be evil?" I questioned, my unease only getting worse.

"Maybe not all of them are bad?" the fire-type in front me threw in.

"That might be possible but why would it hide itself from us then? We have no knowledge of its real intentions and the fact that it's also supposed to be connected with a time-anomaly should make us even more worried about it," Grovyle warned in a strict tone. He got up from his log and gave Celebi a serious look. "I know that we wanted to stay here a little longer but we should get to the passage of time."

"But Grovy!" she tried to protest.

The grass-type sighed. "Listen... With a Darkrai stalking us, I don't feel very comfortable about the thought of staying here much longer." He looked at Ozu and me. "What do you two think?"

"I agree." I nodded.

Ozu did the same. "That Pokemon doesn't really sound like someone we would want to come across."

Celebi gave each of us a sad look, folded her arms and pouted. Before she responded, I could see her eyes, taking a glance of the pile of firewood next to us. She smirked. "Tell you what... We burn up this last bit of firewood and head up afterwards. Wouldn't it be impolite of us not to use the wood, this Darkrai has collected for us?"

"God dammit," Grovyle muttered to himself, letting out a sigh.

The way he said that remembered me of Ri as the phrase used to be her common reply to something that didn't go the way she wanted it to. I turned sad while my old partner faced the psychic-type again.

"Celebi do you want to argue-"

"No, I don't!" She interrupted him. "Come on, Grovy... The fire will probably burn for only one more hour and I swear we'll head up there right when it has gone out!" She floated closer to the grass-type and gave him a puppy look. "Please~?"

He sighed again. "You heard her," he said to Ozu and me, sitting back down onto his log.

Both, Ozu and me went back to our seats and took place on them, while Celebi used her psychic powers to put the new burning material into our fire.

My gaze wandered onto Grovyle. "Hey, Grovyle... I think you wanted to tell me something about the Time Gears and Temporal Tower earlier."

He flinched a bit to my words. His eyes fell onto Ozu for a second before he faced me with a sad look for some reason. "I'll tell you another time... It's something we should discuss in private."

"Huh? Why?" I was a little confused by this.

Grovyle seemed to turn nervous. Before he could open his mouth to answer my question, Celebi interrupted him.

"Now, you two! We shouldn't stress ourselves with topics like that! For the next hour I don't want to hear anything about the Time Gears or that screwed up tower!" she exclaimed, giving us a stern look.

I still wanted to know what Grovyle was about to tell me but decided to put the topic at rest for now. If Grovyle wanted to talk about it another time, I would wait for him to bring it up again. "Fine..."

The grass-type responded with a sigh... Something about it was strange though as it almost sounded as if it had slight tone of relief in it.

"So..." Celebi floated back to her seat and sat down. "There's a funny story about how Grovyle almost got beat by a single Sableye!"

He turned red in response. "Hey! I was still a Treecko back then!"

...

We continued with our previous conversation, however, none of us other than Celebi seemed to be able to really pay attention to what we were talking about. Grovyle nervously glanced into the forest around us almost every five seconds or so. He also seemed to be troubled by something else as he constantly looked as if he was debating about something. Ozu and me were just as troubled as he was but tried to distract ourselves with keeping up our chat with the pixie.

After a while, Celebi took note of Grovyle's worry and poked his arm. "Hey, come on! Don't make a face like that!" A warm smile appeared on her face. "Cheer up a bit! Don't waste that little time we still have left to be together with being nervous and stressed all the time!"

It seemed like he was giving this a lot of thought before he returned the smile. "You're right... Sorry."

"The same goes for you too," she continued, looking at me.

While I simply nodded to this, I noticed something strange at the corner of my view. Grovyle's expression almost seemed nervous while Celebi told me those words, however, when I looked at him the look was already replaced by a blank stare at the psychic-type.

Celebi gave me a grin. "Now that I've told you some stories about Grovy here, I think I should also remember Riley about some of her best moments."

The way she said those words made me gulp. 'Best moments, huh? She probably meant 'most embarrassing' moments... I hope this doesn't get too bad for me.'

...

"Oh! I also remember the time I managed to bring Riley to show me what's under those clothe-" Celebi suddenly stopped mid-sentence and let out a grunt while she clutched the sides of her head with her hands. "Uugh!"

"Celebi! What's wrong?!" At the same time I was finishing the sentence she was just about to say in my head, I also shot up from my seat and walked up to her. When I reached her and placed my paw on her right shoulder, I felt concerned and embarrassed at the same time but decided to discard the thought of her, seeing what was under my clothes and replaced it with my full attention on the pixie.

Grovyle and Ozu got up as well and walked next to me and the psychic-type who was obviously in a lot of pain for some reason.

"S-something is... Ugh... Something is creating a Time Scar..." she managed to bring out between her grunts.

"A Time Scar?" I repeated, remembering what she told us about this kind of time distortion. Apparently, Celebi was somehow able to feel that a timeline was breaking apart at the very moment we spoke.

"Y-yes..." The pained expression on her face slowly began to disappear. The pixie brought her hands back down and rose her head, facing us again.

"Are you alright?" Ozu asked in a concerned tone.

She was panting a bit. "I'm okay again... The headache's gone."

"What was that just now?" Grovyle walked up to her left side and placed his claw on her left shoulder.

She looked at him. "I just felt it... Somebody just destroyed a timeline and ripped a hole into the fabric of time."

"Huh? How?" the fire-type to my right asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "But what I do know is that Primal Dialga has felt it too... A distortion like that can't go by it unnoticed."

"Is that bad for us?" I questioned, beginning to worry again.

Celebi turned serious while Grovyle and I let go of her shoulders, letting her float up from her seat. "Probably... After something like this, it will sense for anything that could have caused it... Including me."

Grovyle's expression turned a little confused. "But Dialga wasn't able to find you before, so why should it be able to so now?"

"It looks for me all the time but I can usually trick it by jumping to another point in time whenever it's about to find me." The pixie closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to be in deep thought about something. "But after this distortion, I think I won't be able to properly control that time jump... I might end up right in front of that monster if things go wrong."

I somewhat understood her explanation and although I was still a little confused by it, I responded with the obvious question that probably everyone wanted to ask at that moment. "What are we supposed to do now, then?"

The psychic-type turned sad and looked at Grovyle. "Looks like you win... We should head up to the passage of time right now, if we don't want to get a sudden visit by that big old dragon."

Ozu and me gulped to this while Grovyle let out a sigh. "Let's get ready, then..."

...

While Ozu and Grovyle walked up to their backpacks and checked their supplies, I asked Celebi something about this passage we were just about to head to. "Hey, Celebi... I suppose it's some kind of portal like the one Dusknoir used to bring us to the future but can you tell me what this passage of time actually is?"

"You are right that it is a portal but the difference with the one Dusknoir used, is that the passage of time wasn't created by Dialga... It's another result of the destruction of Temporal Tower and is something you could call a 'natural' portal to another time," she answered. "The only thing you need to use it, is someone with the ability to influence time to properly control where- or rather when- you will come out on the other side."

"So that's why we needed your help? To control where the portal would send us?" I combined.

She gave me a smile. "You've got it."

Ozu, who had apparently listened to our conversation, suddenly stopped preparing his backpack and slowly rose his head to look at Celebi. "W-wait... Does that mean you could send us to any point in time we want?" His eyes widened. "Maybe even to a point in time where... Where Ri is still alive?!"

My own eyes widened and a hope of seeing our friend again rose up while I focused my gaze on the floating pixie.

Celebi responded by shaking her head. "I think it won't work like that..." She put on an apologetic look. "I could send you there but according to what you told me, there is no possibility to save the Riolu without meeting your past selves. Not only would your brains explode from endlessly erasing and creating new memories, you would also create another distortion in the process..."

Both, Ozu and me let our heads sink down. "Is there really nothing we can do to save her?" the fire-type questioned.

"Not without creating another paradox, sorry... Although I could try to create one, with the current condition of time, it would most likely kill me... and you... and probably every other Pokemon in the Time Knot," she answered in a sad tone.

'Crap...' I grit my teeth while the familiar feeling of guilt tried to overtake me once more. The flicker of hope that had immediately died down again, left with an uneasy feeling in my stomach and a slight pain in my chest.

My partner didn't respond to this and simply walked back to his bag, closed it and put it onto his back. In the meantime Grovyle finished preparing his bag as well and approached us. "Ready?"

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and pushed my sad thoughts away. "Yes..." I said, facing the grass-type.

The four of us headed towards an opening at other side of the clearing and found ourselves on a pathway that led though the forest and up to a landscape that was littered with rocky hills.

There was an odd silence hanging in the air while we walked along the soiled path. Celebi was a lot more quiet than before for some reason. I assumed that she was focused on sensing if Dialga was trying to sense her. Ozu still had his head lowered and seemed to be in deep thought like he was earlier, when we made our way to the last Mystery Dungeon we had cleared. Grovyle seemed to be just as troubled as Ozu... I noticed that he was giving me a nervous glance now and then but decided to shrug it off and think nothing of it.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, Celebi spoke up again. "By the way... Do you have a plan B, should you not be able to find the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest?"

"Actually, yes," Grovyle replied. "But I'm not sure if it would work... We found out about the location of the Time Gears from the past, by searching for them in this time so I was thinking..." He gave Celebi a serious look. "Is it possible to use a Time Gear from the future?"

The psychic-type shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that won't work... First of all, if the Time Gear is gone in the past, it is most likely gone in the future too. And secondly, you can't take a Time Gear through a portal to another tim-"

She suddenly stopped and gasped.

"What's wrong?" Everyone turned around and looked at her.

"I... I can sense it... The source of the Paradox Traces on those notes," Celebi explained.

"You can sense the Darkrai? Where is it?!" Grovyle asked, tensing up and scanning the are around us for our stalker.

"It's ahead of us... Somewhere near the passage of time..." she answered.

"I-is it waiting for us?" Ozu responded, with a worried look.

"It's-" She turned confused for some reason. "It's... gone..."

"What do you mean, 'it's gone'?" my old partner said in a serious tone.

"I don't know, it suddenly disappeared again!" Celebi seemed to be disappointed about herself. "It's almost like it knew that I sensed it and immediately hid away from me."

Grovyle's eyes fell onto the end of the pathway in front of us. "We can't waste any more time then... We'll worry about that plan B later, first we need to get back to the past." He pointed at the entrance to a small valley in the distance. "We're almost there, let's go."

Celebi, Ozu and me nodded. "Right."

...

We quickly hurried to the end of the path we had been walking on and came across the entrance to a small valley between a couple of rocky hills. After we walked through the passageway, we found ourselves inside of a circular valley that was surrounded with gray cliffs. The terrain had rocks and boulders scattered around it and at the other end of the entrance, I could see some kind of blue portal.

"Is that the passage of time?" Ozu questioned, pointing at it.

Grovyle gave him a smile and nodded.

"All that's left to do now, is to decide where I should send you," Celebi explained while we walked into the middle of the valley. "I can either send you exactly to the point in time when you were thrown into to future, or I could send you out a couple of days later."

My old partner folded his arms. "Hmm... I think it would be smarter to let us out a couple of days after we were captured. Most of the Pokemon will probably have calmed down by then and it would be easier for us to find out what-"

Everyone gasped when the ground around us suddenly turned in a carpet of black shadows and a noise of someone clapping interrupted the grass-type.

**~ Switch music: ****That witch escaped the darkness - Persona 3 (Extended)**

"My, my Grovyle, you sure managed to trick us..." Dusknoir's voice said while a figure rose from one of the shadows in front of us. "Too bad you didn't stay in those graves though, it would have saved my men a lot of work."

I balled my paws into fists and narrowed my eyes on Dusknoir when he slowly floated out of the ground. 'That bastard... How did he manage to ambush us?'

Grovyle immediately extended the leaves on his arms and glared at the ghost-type between us and the passage of time. "Dusknoir."

"Oh, I see you found Celebi too," the ghost-type continued while dozens of Sableye rose from the shadows around us. After the last one stepped out of the ground, we were completely surrounded by an army of the small ghost-types.

Each of us hectically looked around themselves, trying to count the number of our foes while Dusknoir continued to speak. "I've got about one hundred men with me and another group of fifty Pokemon as back up on top of that cliff," he explained while said back up walked up to the edge of the cliffs to show themselves.

"W-what are we supposed to do?" Ozu questioned with a desperate voice.

Grovyle didn't respond and simply kept his eyes locked on Dusknoir.

A smirk appeared on the ghost-type's face. "You want to fight your way through me anyway, am I right?"

"Hmph." My old partner turned his head to side and looked at Ozu and me. "Riley... I need you to cover my right and Ozu to cover my left while I fight him." His eyes focused on the fire-type next to me. "With that Blaze of yours, you should try to take out as many Sableye as you can."

My partner nodded, put his backpack onto the ground and turned to our left while he rose his right hand up to his mouth.

Although I felt a little uneasy about Ozu using his Blaze so shortly after the last one, I tensed up and narrowed my gaze on the ghost-types to our right.

"And me?" Celebi questioned, tensing up a bit.

Grovyle gave her a smile. "You have my back, like you always do."

An evil laugh from Dusknoir interrupted our conversation and focused our attention on him. "By the way, did I mention that Master Dialga himself decided to pay you a visit?"

"W-what?!" While I only looked at Grovyle with a worried look, I could see that his eyes widened and his expression turned into a shocked one.

As if on cue, a loud roar suddenly echoed through the valley and the earth underneath us began to tremble. Celebi suddenly gasped and wrapped her arms around herself while she turned just as shocked as Grovyle. "N-no!"

"W-what is this?!" Ozu asked, anxiously.

I looked at the top of the cliff, right above the passage of time. A massive figure stepped towards the edge of the cliff, revealing itself to us.

'This... This is...' My own eyes widened. 'Primal Dialga.'

A huge, four-legged dragon was now standing above us, looking down at us with red-glowing eyes. It was stripped with metallic armor all over its body, with a huge red gem placed in the middle of the plate on its chest. Orange vein-like stripes were running along the metallic stips, giving off an ominous energy.

"Grovyle! What are we supposed to do?!" I called out to him.

The grass-type was stunned and didn't respond, his eyes locked onto the massive dragon above us.

"Grovyle?" Both, Ozu and me were starting to grow anxious.

He lowered his head, hiding his eyes from our view. "I... It's over... There's nothing we can do against Primal Dialga," he said, pulling his leaves back in. "Dusknoir is one thing, but Dialga... That's a completely different story..."

"What?" I was shocked that he decided to simply give up like that.

"Good choice, Grovyle..." Dusknoir said triumphantly. "Although I would have expected at least some resistance from you, I'm glad to see that you're smart enough to realize that there's no escape."

The Chimchar to my left suddenly took one step towards Grovyle. "T-that's it?! You just want to give up like that?!" he yelled, much to Grovyle's surprise. "After everything you and Riley have been through, you just stop?!" His hands balled into fists and a pained expression appeared on his face. "After... After everything Ri has been through?!" He looked the grass-type straight in the eyes. "Do you think Ri would give up in a situation like this? No! She would fight until the very end!"

"And look where that mindset has brought her!" Dusknoir called in response. "She's dead! Only because she didn't know when to stop!"

Ozu cringed to those words while Grovyle seemed to be in deep thought.

"Anyway, I think we should end this now... Any last words before Master Dialga finishes you off?" the ghost-type asked with an indifferent voice.

Another roar echoed through the valley, causing me and my friends to flinch.

My gaze fell down to the ground in front of me. 'Is it really over? Is there nothing we can do against this monster? Was everything for nothin-'

**"CLANG!"**

**~ Switch music: Battle for everyone's souls - Persona 3 (Extended)**

I was just about to lose hope like the others when we suddenly heard a loud blast, coming from the top of the cliff. It seemed as if time went slower when I rose my head to see what had happened.

A black figure, probably three times of my size, had punched the roaring dragon-type square in the face. Its outstretched arm, pushed Dialga's head towards the ground and with a loud bang, the massive Pokemon crashed down into the valley, landing on top of a group of screaming Sableye. 'N-no way!'

All of my muscles locked themselves from the sudden shock, while I could only follow the surrounding events with my eyes. Dialga wasn't moving after its fall, resulting in an army of shocked ghost-types that were staring at their hopefully unconscious master. 'A single punch? How is that possible?'

My attention fell back onto the figure, who was still floating in the air near the edge of the cliff. It slowly sank down and landed on the floor with two thin, spike-like legs.

Everyone was speechless and had their eyes locked on the black Pokemon on top of the cliff.

Its whole body was black and had a human-like form. It seemed like the Pokemon was wearing a coat that was a part of its body. Something like a red collar grew around its neck, resembling the lower part of a maw. On its head was a white 'hat' of the same material its body was made of that somewhat resembled hair.

The first moment I saw this Pokemon, I knew what it was... Celebi's description from earlier fit perfectly, meaning that the Pokemon on top of the cliff was a Darkrai... Our stalker...

What happened next was a little unexpected, as the Darkrai suddenly shook its right hand and cursed to itself. Punching the steel armor of Primal Dialga with a bare fist must've really hurt, so I somewhat understood the reaction. But the impact of its entrance was somewhat ruined by the rather funny scene. While it shook its hand, I could make out that a white bandage was wrapped around its right hand and lower arm.

None of the Pokemon in the valley said a word while the Pokemon regained its composure and looked down into the valley with the single eye that looked out from under its 'hair'. Before I could make out the color of its eyes, the dark-type suddenly vanished into thin air and left a cloud of stirred up dust on top of the cliff.

I gasped when it suddenly reappeared right between us and Dusknoir. 'T-this Darkrai is fast! That was a Lighting Step but what kind of move did it use?'

The figure's back was turned towards us while all the Sableye around us turned their heads towards the middle of the valley again.

"M-Master Dusknoir? W-what are we supposed to do?!" one of the Sableye that stood close to their leader questioned.

Dusknoir seemed to be in shock. His eye wasn't able to move away from the dark figure in front of him.

"Master Dusknoir! What about Master Dial-" The imp was interrupted by Dusknoir who had snapped out of his trance and pointed at the Pokemon in front of him.

"Sableye! Attack-"

"SHUT UP!" Before the ghost-type could finish his command, a loud yell echoed through the valley and an ominous shockwave was sent off from the Darkrai, flying through everyone on the scene.

The faces of Dusknoir's troops turned terrified and every single one of our opponents, including Dusknoir, froze in their spots. They weren't even able to bring out a single word while their eyes were locked on the black figure in front of me and my friends.

Grovyle, Ozu, Celebi and me however, weren't affected like the ghost-types around us. We were stunned because this strange being suddenly showed up out of nowhere, knocked out Primal Dialga with a single punch and froze an entire army of Sableye with one shout. 'How can it be that strong?'

The Darkrai turned around and revealed a pair of purple eyes to us. Its white hair was covering most of its left one but the brilliant color of the right eye gave me a strange feeling somehow. 'Who is this?'

"W-what did you-" Ozu started to ask but the Pokemon answered before he could finish the question.

"I used Intimidate on them," the Darkrai replied. Its voice was very strange because I couldn't quite tell whether it was male or female. It somehow sounded like a mix of two voices, one being of a teenage girl and the other of a grown man. "The technique I just used is actually called 'Supression Wave', but that isn't really important right now, is it?"

"W-who are you?" I asked, tensing up a bit. The Pokemon might have helped us but at the same time it also scared me. 'If it isn't friendly we're done for.'

It seemed to be a little nervous after my question. The dark-type gazed into the air for a moment and scratched its 'chin'.

"Uhm... Let's just say that I'm someone that knows a lot about you," it replied.

I couldn't really see it but at that moment I thought that the Pokemon had a forced smile under the red collar on its neck. 'Somebody that know a lot about us?'

The Darkrai then pointed at Grovyle. "He, for example, is a really good kisser," it said, winking at the grass-type. 'What?!'

He was speechless and responded with a shocked look.

Celebi was shocked as well and locked at Grovyle with wide open eyes. "You are what?!"

The Darkrai giggled to this. "I'm just teasing you, calm down."

"B-but Grovyle is a guy!" Ozu gasped. "Does that mean you're...?"

"A girl?" the Darkrai snapped before my partner could finish his sentence. The apparently female Pokemon turned angry a bit, making everyone flinch a little. 'God dammit, Ozu! Why did you have to think of something like that?!'

"You're a girl?" Celebi seemed to be really confused by this.

"Is it really that hard to notice?" The Darkrai seemed to mutter something to herself before she turned towards the still shocked Dusknoir. "Anyway, I'm here to help you... How about we continue with our little chat when I've created an atmosphere for a proper conversation."

She faced our petrified opponents again. "Stay back and enjoy the show... I'll handle them." She snipped with her left hand and all of the Pokemon around us regained their ability to move.

Our new ally took a couple of steps forward. "Alright, everyone! As you might have noticed, I just knocked out your dear Master Dialga with a single punch! Although I'm not somebody who underestimates her opponents, I'm sure that none of you can even be compared to my level of power!" The dark-type raised her right hand and showed one finger to Dusknoir. "So here's what we are going to do to make this a bit more interesting for me! If one of you manages to get a single hit on me, I'll surrender and leave those four to you!"

"W-what?!" Ozu yelled out to her.

She turned around and gave him something that I could somehow make out as a pout. "Hey! Have a little faith in me! I'm strong and I know what I'm doing!"

'She would really handicap herself like this? Just how strong is she?'

Dusknoir looked at the Darkrai with a skeptical look and was obviously processing the whole situation in his head. "I'm not sure why you would want to aid those four but I can't let somebody who treated our master like this get away with it..." His expression turned grim. "Fine... Let's play your little game! Sableye! Attack!"

With Dusknoir's order, a massive horde of ghost-types ran towards the Darkrai and launched themselves at her, not leaving her any space to dodge. She didn't move until the first Sableye was in her reach and punched the imp with an unbelievably fast motion. My eyes weren't even able to follow her movements when one ghost-type after another was thrown back into the valley.

In order to see what was going on, I took one deep breath and focused on Agility... The world around me slowed down and I was finally able to make out what our savior was doing.

Her purple eyes were always focused on the closest Sableye and followed its every move while she prepared her counter-attacks. She took care of one target at a time and used well aimed punches or kicks with her pointy legs to blast the ghost-types away from her. 'Dammit, she's fast!'

When the first wave of Sableye was fended off, the second group of ghost-types changed their strategy and went for Shadow Sneak to get into her blind-spots. While she took care of a Pokemon that had lunched at her from the front, it almost seemed like she was about to get hit as another ghost-type jumped out of the ground behind her. The dark-type simply turned her body sideways and pushed the second Pokemon away with a swift kick, while her right fist took care of the Sableye in front of her.

Even when three Pokemon attacked her at the same time, she still managed to keep them away from her with some rather ridiculous movements.

After the second wave, there were already a couple of piles of the small ghost-types around her. Her opponents changed their strategy and each of them charged up a Shadow Ball attack.

I was getting a little worried when the Darkrai simply closed her eyes and returned to a casual posture.

'What is she doing?'

"Fire!" Dusknoir ordered and about fifty Sableye released their attacks, sending a barrage of Shadow Balls towards the dark-type.

Although I was using Agility, I couldn't follow the movements of her next move. She suddenly vanished, leaving an empty space on the spot she had been standing on. All the Shadow Balls crashed together on the middle of the valley, resulting in a huge explosion that sent a cloud of dust into the air. 'Another Lightning Step? Where is she?'

Everyone's eyes widened when the Darkrai suddenly reappeared above the cloud, floating mid-air. Her feet were suddenly gone, putting a worried look on my face. She didn't seem to be injured though what left me more confused than worried. 'Can she pull those feet into her body to levitate?'

She rose her left arm above her head and seemed to focus her energy into her hand, while a sphere of something like black aura formed in her palm.

With one quick motion, she threw the sphere down into the group of Sableye that was stationed to our left. With a loud blast and another massive explosion, Dusknoir's men could only scream in pain while the blast threw them into the air.

The Darkrai had just defeated a few dozens of Sableye with one attack.

She slowly floated back down to the ground, stretched her feet out of her body somehow and landed between us and Dusknoir again.

"Whoops..." The Darkrai rubbed the back of her head while she looked at the piles of unconscious Pokemon to her left. "I think that was a little overkill..."

Dusknoir balled his hands into fists in response. "Back up team! Come down here!" the ghost-type ordered to the Pokemon who were still standing on top of the cliff. All of them jumped down into the valley and filled up the holes our savior had already created.

She got back into her casual stance and looked at the Pokemon around her. "How about you go for some close combat again? That was somewhat enjoyable."

The Sableye looked at their leader who was probably gritting his teeth from the Darkrai's mocking. "Sableye! Attack!"

Another wave of ghost-type ran at the Darkrai and just like before, every single one of them was thrown back by a punch or a swift kick.

Our opponents numbers turned smaller and smaller, leaving only a dozen of Dusknoir's men left when our savior was finished with the last wave that was sent at her. Only a couple of Sableye and Dusknoir himself were left between us and the passage of time.

"Thanks for the little work out but I think I'll end this now..." The Darkrai in front of us put her right arm in front of her body, showing her lower arm to the Pokemon in front of her. I could feel some kind of pressure come from her arm before she flicked her whole arm out to her left side.

My eyes widened when a massive shockwave came forth from the motion, flying directly at the last couple of enemies that were left on the battlefield.

Dusknoir flinched and was pushed back a bit while all the Sableye that had surrounded him were lifted off their feet and crashed into the cliff behind them.

I could see that his eyes was full with anger when he floated back into his previous position. "Why you..." His expression turned blank again. "I see... I guess I have to do it myself then..." Dusknoir instantly melted into his shadow and shot out from the ground behind the Darkrai, his fist covered in ice.

Just like before, I wasn't able to follow her movements when she turned around. The result of her reaction was that she had her left hand wrapped around Dusknoir's fist. She forcefully pressed the ghost-type fist together, causing the ice around his fist to disappear and forcing a grunt of pain out of him.

"Good night..." The Darkrai balled her right hand into a fist and threw it into the ghost-types stomach. His eye widened before his expression turned blank and he slowly fell down to the ground. The dark-type let go of his hand and took one step back.

The whole valley was now full of unconscious ghost-types and a massive, knocked out Dialga.

**~ Stop music**

The Darkrai turned around and faced us again. Under her red collar, she was probably giving us a smile.

We hesitantly approached the Pokemon.

"Thank you for helping us," the four of us said in union.

"No problem..." she replied. "By the way, I'm sorry for those nightmares I gave you... I'm not really able to tell my body to turn that ability off..."

Before any of us could ask her any questions, the Darkrai continued. "Listen to me, the next couple of things I'm going to tell you are very important... I know that you have already figured out that it was me who brought your gear back and collected that firewood for you."

"But why-" She interrupted us.

"The notes I left you kind of have the purpose of... Uhm... I need you to give someone a message when you're back in the past." The look in her eyes turned serious. "The Spirit of Faith needs to know about everything that has happened here..."

"Who's the Spirit of-"

"Tell her about the notes, about every detail of the fight you just saw and everything about our conversation," she continued, not giving us any chance to ask any questions. "Head straight to Crystal Cave after you walked through that portal. That's where you will meet her. Once you tell her about everything that has happened, she'll help you to complete your mission and search the Time Gears with you."

The four of us took some time to process this before Grovyle spoke up again. "So this 'Spirit of Faith' is 'her'? And we are supposed to meet her at Crystal Cave and tell her about everything that happened here in the future?"

The Darkrai nodded.

"Fine... We'll deliver your message but I would like to ask you a couple of questions," Grovyle said with a strict tone.

She seemed to turn a little nervous when he said the word "questions".

"Who are you and how do you know so much about us?" the grass-type questioned in a serious tone.

"Uhm... Sorry, but I can't tell you a lot about me, or the reason why I helped you," she returned with a sad look. "I think you already know that I'm connected with a time-anomaly so... Yeah... That's the reason why I'm not allowed to tell you. If I tell you something that you're not supposed to know, I could really mess up the fabric of time..."

We took a moment to process her words again. "Well, what are you allowed to tell us then?" Celebi asked in a curious tone.

The Darkrai brought her bandaged hand up to her chin. "Uhm... Only the things I've said before..." She looked at the blue portal behind her. "I think we should get you to that passageway now." She slowly walked towards the blue portal in front of us.

Everyone exchanged a quick glance and Ozu picked up his backpack from the ground before we followed her.

"Ehm... Hey, Darkrai... What was that with Grovyle being a good kisser before?" Celebi asked the dark-type while she quickly caught up to the Pokemon.

Grovyle, who was walking next to me, turned red to this and focused his gaze on the Darkrai in front of him.

She turned around and gave my old partner a smirk. "I've heard it from a friend of mine... If I didn't have a boyfriend, I would probably be checking if she told me the truth right now..."

Grovyle responded with a confused expression... "From someone I've kissed before?" He muttered some names to himself and was probably trying to figure out who the dark-type could've meant.

Celebi glared at her for a second before she responded. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's the most important person in my life... He's kind, he's strong and he's handsome!" The Darkrai suddenly turned flustered and embarrassed for some reason. "Did I really say that just now? U-uhm... I'm not even sure if you're supposed to know this..." She fiddled around with her fingers. "Please forget that I even said it..."

We reached the blue portal and stopped right front of it. "So... What now?" I asked the black Pokemon, who had a little more distance to the portal than us.

"Well, Celebi should activate the passage of time for you now..." she replied.

"Okay, then..." Celebi closed her eyes and held her hands out towards the blue portal.

"Send them out twelve days after they were captured," the Darkrai instructed. "That way, they'll reach Crystal Cave by the same time the Spirit of Faith does."

After a while, the passageway next to us began to give off a bright glow and Celebi opened her eyes again. "Done..."

"Well, I guess this is it then... All that's left to do is say good-bye and my job is done here," the dark-type announced while she walked up to Ozu and kneeled down in front of him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You are much stronger than you think you are... Just have a little faith in yourself and you'll become even stronger," she said with a warm smile under her collar.

The Darkrai turned to me and brought her head closer to mine. "Tell him..." she whispered into my right ear. "That Chimchar feels the same about you so don't be scared to make the first step..."

I turned red in response. "H-how do you-"

'Who is she?! Why would she say something like that?' I turned my head to look at Ozu, who was giving us a confused look. 'D-does he really...'

My thoughts were interrupted when the Darkrai got back onto her feet and walked up to Grovyle. Right in front of him, she leaned forward to get down to his level. From this angle, I could see her mouth which was usually covered by her red collar, formed into a smile. The dark-type stared into his eyes for a while and let out a sigh that somehow had a slight tone of nostalgia in it.

She suddenly brought her head forward and pushed her lips onto the grass-types cheek.

He was stunned while she pulled back again and faced Celebi, who was staring at her with a shocked expression.

The grass-type blinked a couple of times. "W-what was that for?"

"Just a little sign of appreaciation..." The Darkrai cleared her throat. "Uhm... I think that is all... Good-bye," she said while she folded her arms and took one step away from us, facing the middle of the valley again.

It took Grovyle a while process this awkward moment. "Ehm... I agree... We should get back to the past..." He mimicked the dark-type and cleared his throat as well. "Thank you for everything..."

He faced Celebi and gave her a smile. "And thank you too... It was nice to see you again." The pixie returned the smile... Although something about it was off as it almost looked like she had to force it onto her lips.

"Thank you too..." She floated down to the grass-type and hugged him. "Good-bye, Grovy..."

Celebi finished the embrace and flew to me, putting me into a hug too. "Good-bye, Riley..."

The last one to get a hug was Ozu. "Good-bye..."

The psychic-type floated back into the air flew next to Darkrai, who was turning around again to face us.

The three of us walked right in front of the portal and turned around one last time.

Both, Celebi and the Darkrai were waving at us.

When I was just about to raise my hand to mimic them, the dark-type suddenly pulled her left arm backwards. "Oh, I almost forgot..."

Time seemed to go slower when she pushed her own limb into Celebi's back, piercing right though her chest. My eyes widened when the pixie's blood shot into our direction and a scream left her mouth.

All of my muscles froze in place and my mind went numb while I witnessed this scene. 'W-wha...'

The dark-type's arm was gaping out of Celebi's chest while she looked at us with a blank expression. Celebi's body went limp and two thin trails of blood leaked out of her mouth. My eyes were fixed on hers while they slowly turned bleak and lifeless.

Before any of us could react to this shocking event, the Darkrai threw the arm, she had used to wave, forward and sent a shockwave at us, pushing us into the portal behind us.

The last thing I was able to hear while everything around me turned white and began to spin, was the dark-type's voice.

"Tell her."

* * *

**End of Chapter - 34**

* * *

_**Wait... Did I really kill Celebi just now?  
**_

_**Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?**_

_**What are you doing Dom? How can you kill Celebi!?**_

_Well, my smirk from before was evil, so you can expect evil things from me... *even more evil smirk*_

_**AND WHO THE HELL IS THIS DARKRAI?!**_

_**I would really like to hear your opinions on this chapter, so send me a PM or leave a review!**_


	35. Demon's Embrace

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Oh! Hello, there!  
_

_This chapter got a trivia-section as this was posted during the time where I started the big revision and decided to introduce the trivia-section._

_Anyway, here's the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 35 - Demon's Embrace  
**

* * *

**Ri's POV**

* * *

"Remember me?" I asked the Groudon in front of me.

"REMEMBER YOU? THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A LUC-" The massive Groudon in front of me gasped and inspected me with wide open eyes. "N-NO... YOU... YOU'RE THAT RIOLU."

"Yes, I am. And I'm here to talk with-"

**~ BGM: Enlightening within Yourself - Tales of Zestiria (Extended)**

I stopped to explain the reason why I was here when the illusion in front of me suddenly rose its hand into the air and let out a roar.

"Dammit!" Knowing that the Groudon would throw an attack at me, I prepared myself to jump back and create some distance with the Pokemon, however, the sudden movement caused my stomach to light up in pain and my left eye to shut tight. I also only managed to stumble back a bit, leaving me off balance and only able to look up at the Groudon's claw while it slammed it down at me.

'This is gonna-'

Just when the attack was about to hit, I was lifted off my feet. My vision turned blurry for a second while I heard the Groudon push its hand into the spot I had been standing on. A familiar sensation came from my back and my legs when I regained my vision and was greeted with the image of Cobal, who looked at me with a concerned expression on his face.

I had to blush when I realized that he was holding me like a groom would hold his bride. 'Not again...' The memory of Grovyle face being dangerously close to mine came into my mind, causing my face to turn even redder. That Cobal's face was just as close as Grovyle's back then, only made it worse.

"Are you okay?" the Lucario questioned.

"Y-yeah, p-please let me down," I stammered, breaking eye-contact in an attempt to hide my completely red face.

Cobal let back down onto my feet and focused on the Groudon in front of us.

Shaking my head to push unfitting thoughts out of my head and ignoring the stinging from my stomach, I did the same and faced the now enraged ground-type.

"YOU..." Steam was coming out of the illusion's mouth while it glared at me with killer intent. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER..."

'He's talking about Mesprit...' Gritting my teeth, I broke eye-contact with the ground-type and gave my partner a quick glance.

Cobal was giving me a serious look. "I assume he's talking about your dispute with Mesprit at Underground Lake." He faced the massive ground-type in front of us again. "The way things look right now suggest that we won't be able to persuade Uxie with words."

My own view wandered back onto Uxie's illusion which let out another roar. "I think not."

Cobal took one step forward and brought his right paw down to the handle of his sword. "If this is just an illusion, I'm sure have nothing against me, using my sword."

"Okay..." The ground-type charged at us.

My partner crouched down a bit and focused his gaze on our opponent. "It has been quite some time since I last used this technique..." The Lucario exhaled.

Before I could register any movement from my partner, a loud scrape clang through the air and the fighting-type disappeared from my sight, leaving only stirred up dust on the spot he had been standing on.

The Groudon that had been charging at us suddenly stopped on its place while its eyes widened.

Cobal reappeared a couple of feet behind the ground-type, sword in his hand and held out to his right. "A strike so fast that time itself has to catch up with it," he said while he brought his sword back to his holster and slowly sheathed it, the Groudon behind him still not making a single move.

"Zantetsuken." With those words, he completely sheathed his weapon and our opponent was cut in half by a horizontal slash to its stomach.

_(A/N: Got that one from Kingdom Hearts...)_

My own eyes widened when the two pieces of the Groudon slowly slid apart and its body began to give off a white glow before it exploded with a flash of light. 'T-that... That wasn't just Extremespeed. That technique is incredible...' I gulped. 'If he had actually hit the real Uxie with this, there's no way he would survived that!'

Cobal turned around and faced me again. He seemed to be out of breath and was panting... Using speed like this must've cost a lot of energy and there was also the fact that he had not fully recovered from our fight with Team Work.

'Zantetsuken... A strike so fast that time itself has to catch up with it. If I could learn to use that technique with Bone Rush or maybe even Sacred Sword I could-'

My trail of thought was interrupted when suddenly, a bright light appeared on the spot our opponent had busted into the air. Another flash of light blinded me for a second and revealed a furious-looking Uxie that was glaring at me.

"Ri! Get away from hi-" Before my partner could try to return to my side, he was caught in a psychic grip from the real guardian of Fogbound Lake, who was holding his arm into the Cobal's direction. The psychic-type moved his arm towards the wall that covered the lake and Cobal was thrown straight into it, the crash hard enough to send a blast into the air and debris and dust into every direction around the impact-zone.

"Coba- Ugh!" My call was interrupted when Uxie's attention focused on me, pointed his other arm out and took ahold of my body with his psychic powers. It felt like a ring of an invisible force was tied around my arms and stomach that slowly shrunk in size, causing me to grunt as my wounds flared up in pain. My feet lost their contact with the ground and Uxie slowly levitated me towards him while I struggled to break free from his grip.

He stopped me right in front of him. "I'll make you feel the same pain she felt!" he said, forming a fist with his hand.

"P-please! I don't want to-" Before I could finish my sentence, the force around my stomach tightened, pushing directly onto the two cuts on my stomach.

I couldn't even scream as the wounds on my stomach were torn apart and blood pushed itself up my throat. The pain occupied all of my senses while I stared into the sky with a wide open mouth that slowly filled itself with the red liquid.

What probably were only a few seconds, felt like an eternity of agony to me until he lightened the grip and I could finally cough to breath once more.

My left eye was shut tight as more coughs joined the first one and I lowered my head to put Uxie into my view again. "P-please! Listen to me!"

"HAAAH!" Cobal's voice rang through the air while the Lucario dashed out the cloud of dust behind Uxie. In the blink of an eye, my partner was right next to Fogbound Lake's guardian and pushed his fist into the psychic-type's face, launching him away from me.

The grip around my stomach was released and I fell down onto my knee's holding my body up with my arms.

_Ri! What happened? Your whole mind was screaming out in pain.  
_

"Not... now... Celsius," I panted before I had to cough up even more blood. Looking down at my aching stomach revealed two dark red spots on the bandage. "My... wounds... opened again..." When I tried to raise my head to see what was going on a couple of feet away from me, I suddenly felt like fainting. My whole body turned numb and the image of my bleeding stomach became a grey blur.

_Your wounds opened up again? Ri! You have to-_

Celsius's voice was suddenly cut off and a familiar sensation swept over my senses. Everything that happened around me wandered into the background the only thing I could register were my own thoughts.

**_Pathetic._**

My eyes widened when I recognized the sinister voice I had heard back at Underground Lake. It was clearer than the last times I had heard it and somehow resembled my own... Only lower and with an uncomforting undertone to it. "N-no! Not you!"

_**Here you are again, at the brink of death.**_

"Get out-" Another cough of blood left my mouth. "Ugh... Get out of my head..."

_**And let you die like a fool?**_

Holding up my body with my arms was getting harder with every second while the voice's words sank in. 'I will bleed out if I don't do anything against the wounds on my stomach...' Even breathing turned into a struggle. "Who.. are... you?"

_**Someone who can't afford to let you die.**_

Even in my current state, I could still form a frown on my face.

_**We don't have time for this... If you want to live, you have to accept the little energy I can give you.**_

'Accept your energy?' At that moment I understood that it really was the voice that made me do the things I did to Mesprit and a fear of doing the same to Uxie or even Cobal rose up inside of me. 'You! You almost made me kill her! How can I-' A sudden surge of energy rushed through my aching body and my vision became a little clearer. An emotion came with the strange sensation of power... Anger. 'Ugh, fuck! What are you doing?!' Collecting on all the remainings of my own power, I tried to resist the energy that welled up inside of me.

**_Don't resist! You won't make it if you pass out now!_**

'No... I don't want to hurt the-' Another cough of blood. 'Ugh, fuck...'

I didn't want to admit it but the voice was right. Somehow I knew that I wouldn't wake up again if I passed out now... It wasn't only my natural instinct to survive that made me slowly stop my resistance. There was also another feeling that pushed me to do everything possible to survive... 'No... There's no way in hell I'm gonna die before I didn't make up for what I did to my friends... Not until I apologize...'

_**You pathetic idiot! Stage One leaves you in full control! You won't-**_

'I'm doing it, alright?!' I interrupted the voice, my anger rising with every word. Although I had no idea what the voice meant with "Stage One", I didn't really care about it.

**_Good._**

** ~ Switch music: Equilibrium - Persona Q (Extended)  
**

With the strange power, running through my whole body, I managed to rise my head and inspect my surroundings once more.

Cobal was still fighting Uxie. The psychic-type was flying through the air, high up and out of Cobal's reach while he launched down a barrage of his Psyshock projectiles. My partner dodged every single one of them with Extremespeed, a small explosion going up next to him whenever Uxie's attacks missed. Before I could even think of making a move, Celsius' voice rang through my head.

_Ri? Ri?! Are you still there?!  
_

'Yes, for fuck sake! I'm still here and I don't have time for you right now!' I snapped though the mental-link.

With a grunt of pain, I got back onto my feet and brought my right paw to the pouch on my right upper leg. After I pulled out an Oran Berry, I quickly brought it up to my mouth and bit into the blue fruit. 'This better works.'

Almost immediately, the pain from my stomach softened and my vision became completely clear again.

My eyes narrowed on Uxie as I popped the remaining bit of the berry into my mouth and prepared myself to end this stupid conflict. Even though I wanted to beat the psychic-type into a pulp for not even giving me the chance of explaining myself and worse of all, almost killing me, I decided to solve this without causing him any harm... Well... At least no major injuries.

The psychic-type was distracted by Cobal, who was trying to hit his opponent with an Aura Sphere, meaning that I could take Uxie by surprise.

I dashed towards the two fighting Pokemon and shot myself off the ground when I was in reach, adding Aerial Ace to my jump to increase its height.

Uxie, who was just about to throw another attack at Cobal, noticed me when it was already too late for him. A spinning overhead kick smacked down into the face of Fogbound Lake's guardian, launching him into the ground. The impact sent a cloud of dust into the air which obscured my vision on the psychic-type. Another Aerial Ace threw me towards Cobal, who had been watching the scene with wide open eyes.

Landing next to him, I focused onto the dust in front of us.

"R-Ri? How are you-" the Lucario tried to ask but couldn't finish his sentence as I dashed into the cloud.

When the dust settled down again, I already had a tight grip on Uxie's neck and held him into the air.

"I'm sick of this bullshit... Why can't I get a fucking break, huh? Every time I try to explain myself, people like you decide to mark me as evil and try to kill me." I literally spat the words into his face as I tightened my grip on his neck. "Do I have to beat your fucking face in to finally get you to listen to me or will you shut up and let me say what I want to say?!"

"Why you-" he tried to say something but I silenced him with another choke while I glared into his squinted eyes.

"Punching your fucking face into a pulp, it is." Pulling my left fist back, I focused all of the anger and frustration I felt at that moment onto his face. Uxie's expression turned from angry to terrified and his attempts to free himself from my grasp stopped while he rose his hands from my arm up to his face in a defensive position.

My eyes widened.

**~ Stop music**

An image of Mesprit's face seemed to overlap Uxie's for a moment and suddenly... all of my anger was gone and replaced with sorrow.

"I'm sorry." I let go of Uxie's neck and took a step back.

"W-what?" He lowered his arms and turned shocked by my sudden change in attitude.

"I said I'm sorry!" I almost yelled, breaking eye-contact. "I know that I went to far... But she attacked my friends and that just made me lose it... I..." My vision suddenly turned blurry and I felt like I was just about to pass out. 'Shit...'

Uxie seemed to be trying to process this and just stared at me.

"We don't want to fight you, Uxie..." Cobal had joined my side and was now standing to my right.

I faced my partner. "Cobal..." I said, looking into his eyes. This caused the Lucario to react with a shocked expression. 'Ugh... Right... My eyes...' Knowing that I wouldn't be able to stay conscious for more than a few more seconds, I decided to ignore the fact that he probably had millions of questions and focused on what was more important at that moment.

"Can you... explain everything... to him?" I was barely able to finish the sentence as my vision turned black and I drifted into unconsciousness. The last thing I could register was that my face brushed against some fur and a yelp from Cobal.

* * *

**~ BGM: (Id) Darkness - Fire Emblem Awakening**

The black void where time didn't seem to exist... Here I was again, floating through nothing but darkness.

'Hello?! Is someone there!?'

Even though everything was dark and felt lucid, I suddenly felt a presence in front of me.

_**Hmph...**_

'Y-You! What are you?!'

Whatever it was let out something I could make out as a sigh.

_**Demon's Embrace.**_

'Demon's Embrace? What are you-' I stopped when my mind was suddenly flooded with a wave of memories.

_Everything was dark and several muffled voices rang through my head._

_..._

_"Demon's Embrace... A very dangerous technique that was created by one of the first Pokemon that gained the ability to influence souls."  
_

_..._

_"Draw out energy from my soul?"_

_"Yes... That in itself wouldn't be bad, however, with this technique you're only able to draw energy from the darkest part of your soul."_

_..._

_"Dark aura is filled with bad emotions like anger, hate and fear... It's only natural that it has some sort of influence on you."_

_..._

_"Because it's like you're embracing your inner demon."_

_..._

_"I guess you two have another thing in common now..."_

_..._

_"Your eyes... Why are they blue?"_

_..._

_"Stop it! He's had enough!"_

_..._

_"I'm a monster..."_

_..._

_"Another nightmare..."_

_..._

_"Pathetic! You think you can control me?!"_

_..._

_"Fuck this! I won't let him kill my friends!"_

_..._

_"I will allow you to use Stage One... You better be grateful."_

_..._

_The darkness faded and revealed the scenery of a half-destroyed village... In front of me was a blurry figure that seemed to be the cause for the destruction. My blood-stained left arm entered my view, holding a black gemstone in it. I shattered the stone in my black paw and a small flame of black aura began to radiate around my now closed fist. A familiar surge of power rushed through my whole body while the black aura spread across my arm. _

_My vision was suddenly obscured by a black flickering smoke and only darkness and other voices remained._

_..._

_"She used a Dark Gem to force herself into that state?!"_

_..._

_"About two weeks and you start to get nightmares if you don't release the energy... You should stack up on Dark Gems then."_

_..._

_"I am your inner demon... The embodiment of your suppressed feelings."  
_

_..._

After that, everything returned to the lucid feeling and I was back with the presence in front of me. Even though I couldn't feel my body, my head hurt like hell while I tried to put the onslaught of new memories together...

'My inner demon...'

_**That's right... And you better be grateful for me.  
**_

It suddenly felt as if my consciousness was being pulled away from the presence.

'W-what's going on?! Wait!'

The lucid feeling faded and my consciousness with it.

'God... Dammit...'

**~ Stop music**

* * *

**End of Chapter - 35**

* * *

_So... A lot of memories came back to Ri and we finally know what the thing with her 'evil-mode' is all about. _

_Or do we? *smirks*_

* * *

**_Trivia-Section:_**

* * *

**_Zantetsuken:_**

_Technique - Physical - Normal-Type  
_

_A single, blindingly fast sword strike. (Sorry for stealing you techniques, Square Enix? I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!)  
_

_This technique requires the use of Extremespeed._

_The user draws their blade, strikes the target and sheathes their sword before their enemy can even register that the technique has been executed. _

**_Demon's Embrace - Stage One: _**

_Soul Art - Special - Dark-Type  
_

_The user draws power from the darkest part of their soul, increasing their combat capabilities to the price of losing themselves to their dark emotions. The more energy the user draws from their soul, the more dark emotions they draw with it, making it harder and harder for them to keep control.  
_

_Stage One is the most basic form of the technique and draws only the required amount of dark energy to gain access to the most basic abilities this state offers._

_In the case of Ri, her eyes strangely change from red to blue. __She gets far more aggressive and foul-mouthed but is still able to control her actions. This state b__oosts her strength and speed and gives her access to various dark-type moves. Her resistance to psychic, dark and ghost-type attacks is increased. Her resistance to fairy, fighting and bug-type attacks is decreased.  
_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	36. The first Time Gear

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

**Chapter 36 - The first Time Gear**

* * *

"Ri?"

**~ BGM: Mistic - Persona 3 (Extended)**

Cobal's voice slowly pulled me out of unconsciousness. My senses slowly returned to me and a constant throb from my belly came with them. Everything felt numb somehow and bringing up the strength to open my eyes was a struggle. When I finally managed to open them, the blurry image of a concerned Lucario and an Uxie entered my view.

"She's awake..." Uxie said with a slight tone of indifference in his voice.

I realized that I was laying on the ground, my head being held up a bit by Cobal. 'Ugh... What was that just now? The voice...'

"Can you speak?" Cobal questioned.

"Y-yeah," I answered weakly.

"We're inside the barrier, right next to Fogbound Lake... We wanted to wait for you to wake up before we talk about taking the Time Gear..." Uxie explained.

I slowly rose my body into a sitting position and inspected my surroundings. Fogbound Lake was to my right, however everything was black and white and looked nothing like the beautiful scene my friends and I had witnessed a few weeks ago. Right in the middle of the lake, the Time Gear was floating above the surface of the frozen water.

My whole body felt numb and I was panting while I spoke up again. "I see... Before we talk about the Time Gear, I'll try to explain a few things to you." I looked at Uxie with an apologetic expression on my face. "That includes why I completely lost it when Mesprit attacked my friends."

Deciding that Celsius should hear about this too, I quickly contacted her.

'Celsius?'

_Finally have some time for me, huh? First you yell at me and then you don't respond to my calls for an hour... You know, I'm actually a little hurt._

'Sorry for snapping at you... But it's kinda hard to be in a good mood when you're almost killed and your inner demon messes with your head...'

_Inner demon?_

'I'll explain it to Uxie and Cobal now... Listen up, you should know the next couple of things too.'

_Ooh! Are you going to reveal some kinky secrets of yours?_

'You want me to yell at you, don't you?'

A chuckle echoed through my head. _Sorry!_

Ignoring Celsius' comment and bringing my attention back to the two Pokemon next to me, I focused my gaze on Uxie, who was responding to me. "Your partner already told me that you felt like being influenced by something."

"Yeah... Again, I'm sorry for what I did to her... I'll have to apologize to her in person when I see her again." A sigh escaped my mouth. "I just remembered a lot of things... About a certain ability of mine... It's called Demon's Embrace."

"It that the reason your eyes looked different?" Cobal asked with a concerned look.

"Yes... I'm able to draw power from the darkest part of my soul with this technique but at the same time I get influenced by my bad emotions. It's why I was so angry and why I couldn't really control myself at Underground Lake."

"Why would you use an ability like that if you knew that you'll go berserk when you use it?" Uxie asked in a stern tone, sending me a glare with his squinted eyes.

"Uhm... I didn't know that I had it until now..." I replied. "I most likely used it subconsciously..."

"Subconsciously? How can you use a technique like that without knowing it?" Cobal asked with a confused look.

A thoughtful expression wandered onto my face while I folded my arms. "I think learning this technique comes with a side-effect."

"A side-effect?" Both of the present Pokemon repeated.

"I remembered a couple of voices... One of them said that I get nightmares if I don't use the technique for a long time. I think that the dark energy of my soul builds up over time and tries to break free when my soul or body isn't able to hold it back anymore." I replayed the voices in my head while I connected the new information with my memories from Underground Lake. "Two days before the incident with Mesprit, I started to have nightmares... And when I got angry at her for hurting my friends, that anger must've triggered the ability and released the energy somehow."

"Any ideas how to deal with that side-effect?" Uxie questioned. "What if you start to randomly get into that state and hurt other Pokemon when the dark energy tries to break free?"

"I think I know how to handle this 'condition' now... Just now I was able to control myself. I was only angry but I didn't feel any influence like at Underground Lake. If I release the energy before it can get to an amount where the dark emotions would overwhelm me, I can keep myself from going berserk."

"I see... So it's pretty much like a glass that slowly fills itself with water. Instead of gulping all of it down when it's about to spill, you only take a small sip whenever the water is about to reach a level that you don't want it to reach," Cobal illustrated, receiving him a nod from Uxie and me.

"If only I had known about this earlier then Mesprit wouldn't be..." I stopped there and looked at the psychic-type next to me with a sad look. "Uhm... How is she exactly? They only told me that Magnezone brought her to you after Grovyle defeated you..."

His expression turned grim. "Several broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, damaged organs, a lot of inner bleeding and her whole body was covered with cuts and bruises."

Balling my paws into fists, I grit my teeth and cursed at myself. "I won't let something like that happen again-"

That sentence made me blink as the whole scenario suddenly felt familiar to me. Rather than being happy that I seemed to remember something from my past, the familiarity of the situation made me sad and rather disappointed at myself. 'I already let it happen again with Mesprit, didn't I?'

_Please try to cheer up a bit... That guilt you're sending right now makes me feel kinda- Oh! We're ready to head to Wigglytuff's guild! Hear you later, Corrine's yelling at me for falling behind._

'Bye, Celsius...' Letting out another sigh, I pushed those thoughts out of my head and returned my attention to the present Pokemon. 'I'll tell Cobal about Celsius and the others later... The Time Gear is more important right now.'

"Uxie... Now that Ri is awake, can we hear your answer?" Cobal questioned the psychic-type.

The psychic-type seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before he folded his arms and looked at us with a serious expression. "In my whole time as a guardian of the Time Gear, I never thought what other purpose than maintaining the flow of time in the surrounding area the gear could have. I knew that it originally came from Temporal Tower and that they had some kind of secondary purpose but we were never told that the energy inside them could restore the tower if it was damaged."

Uxie focused his gaze on me. "Now that I know that Dusknoir and Grovyle come from the future, I understand the reason behind your friends actions... I can't imagine how it must be in a world where everything looks like... Well..." He pointed at the time-frozen lake to his left. "This..."

"Will you help us then?" Cobal asked in an expectant tone.

The guardian returned his gaze onto me. "I'll allow you to take the Time Gear but that doesn't mean that I'm forgiving you."

"I understand... But..." My expression turned grim while I reviewed the recent fight in my head. "Do you really think that my actions justify you to kill me?"

He seemed to be affected by my words but simply responded by returning a grim look.

Cobal placed his paw on my shoulder. "I already talked with him about that topic and that you despise the thought of killing... Please, calm down... We can't waste our time with another argument. Let's talk about the Demon's Embrace topic later." He seemed to force a smile onto his face and let go of me. "Are you okay with that?"

I stopped my glare and let out another sigh. "Right..." My view wandered towards the Time Gear that was floating above the middle of the lake. "Let's get the gear." I tried to stand up but immediately when I moved my body, a jolt of pain wandered out from my stomach. "Ugh..."

"Here, let me help you," Cobal offered, helping me back onto my feet. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." With shaky legs, I slowly started to walked towards the edge of the water, Cobal and Uxie following closely behind me.

"By the way, have you made and plans on what to do after your business here is done?" the psychic-type to my left asked.

"We're heading to the next Time Gear, of course... I think if we head to the Southern Jungle first and take the gears from the Northern Desert and Crystal Cave afterwards, we will take the least time," I answered while I imagined a map of Treasure in front of me and planned the fastest route. Limestone Cavern was the farthest away from Treasure Town and the other two locations were reachable within a day from it, meaning that going south first and heading north next was the smartest approach.

Cobal cleared his throat and gave me a serious look. "We should look for a village on our way there. We have to find a doctor to look at your injuries."

Touching the stained bandages on my stomach, I thought about his words for a moment. 'I would've bled out if I hadn't eaten that Oran Berry from before... Chimecho said that a berry like that only mends the wounds but it still takes time for them to completely heal. Getting help from a healer would be a good idea but we can't waste any time.'

I was still debating on an answer when we reached the edge of the lake and stopped in front of it.

"Let's talk about it when we're done here, okay?" I answered, giving him a forced smile. 'Finally getting our hands onto one of the gears is more important right now.'

My view then fell down onto the frozen lake in front of me. "Uhm... Can I walk on this water?" I said, hesitantly placing my foot onto the surface.

"You can... The whole water is solid now. That's why I placed the gear above the lake and not on its original place, being at the bottom," Uxie explained.

Trusting his words, I put my weight onto my foot and found that it really was solid.

"Shouldn't I get the Time Gear? What about the symbol? What if it drains all of your aura and you die when you touch the gear?" my partner threw in with a concerned voice.

Raising my right paw into my view, I looked at the bright glowing symbol on its backside. "And what if touching another Time Gear releases the Time Gear I've somehow fused with? We'd have two gears then and wouldn't have to worry about the problem anymore."

Not giving him any time to object, I began to wander towards the middle of the lake and tried to ignore the pain on my stomach that came from the movements.

"Ri, please wait..." Halfway there, the Lucario grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. "What you are trying to do is too risky... We know that the gears affect your aura and that this has some bad effects on your body. You're already in a horrible condition and now you want to do something that will most likely drain even more of your energy?"

"What if I can somehow unlock the power to time travel I'm supposed to have that way?" That theory made me blink and think further into it. "What if this whole mess with the Time Gears is why I can travel through time in the first place?"

The Lucario blinked as well and seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "T-this makes sense... But if you really are able to travel through time because of the Time Gears... What event caused you to fuse with the gear and turned you into a Riolu with no memories what so ever?"

That question somehow gave me a severe headache. Pictures of a forest, a Time Gear laying on the ground and a pair of red eyes inside of some kind of black fog rushed into my mind. "Ugh... I..."

"What's wrong?" Uxie called from the edge of the lake.

"Nothing... I'm fine," I replied, giving the psychic-type a reassuring gaze before I face Cobal again.

"Another memory?" the Lucario questioned quietly.

Accessing the memories again somehow wasn't possible anymore as every time I tried to remember one of the images, I only received a headache. "I'm not sure... I think I know what caused this whole mess but everything is really foggy."

"Oh..." He responded with a concerned expression and let go of my shoulder. "Are you really sure you want to grab the Time Gear in your current condition?"

"Let's stop worrying about me and finally get this over with," I said before I grinned at the Lucario. "Are you okay with that?"

He actually returned a chuckle to my tease about his usual question after a proposal. "Alright, let's do this... I'll focus on your aura and interfere as soon as it gets to a dangerous level. It's already low but as long as there's even a tiny flame left inside of your body, you're going to make it." The knight broke eye-contact and muttered something under his breath before he moved his gaze onto the floating gear in front of us.

My own view wandered onto the artifact while I slowly continued to step closer to it, keeping a close eye on the symbol on my paw. 'I hope this will finally explain what this symbol is all about.' Right in front of the Time Gear, I stopped and inspected it for a second.

Taking one last deep breath and bracing myself for the worst, I reached my right hand out to grab the gear. 'Here it goes.'

**~ Stop music**

My eyes widened as soon as I touched it and a surge of an unfamiliar energy rushed through my body. The Time Gear began to glow brightly, causing my eyes to shut tight. Everything suddenly turned white and my whole being felt as if I was floating while I noticed that my energy was sucked out of my body.

The sensation almost made me lose consciousness but I bit through it and after a while it faded and my senses returned to me.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - The Expedition**

* * *

'Ugh... Is it finally over?' I felt even more exhausted than before when I opened my eyes again. The image I was greeted with surprised me. I was still at Fogbound Lake but stood at edge of the lake. What was even more surprising was the fact that somehow all the color had returned to the area. 'What the-?'

It was nighttime and the water was luminated by a bright turquoise light that came from the bottom of the lake. Knowing what would normally cause this, made me look down at my right hands and I luckily found that the Time Gear was still there.

However, my arm looked a little strange. It seemed to be transparent and flickered in a green light. My whole body was somewhat transparent and was giving off a dim glow.

"What the hell?" I scanned the area for Cobal and Uxie but I couldn't see either of them. "Cobal? Uxie?"

No response. My last hope was that I could still reach Celsius but just like with the other two, there was no response when I called out to her in my mind.

'What happened? How can there still be color and why is there a Time Gear at the bottom of the lake?' That was when realization slowly struck me. 'Time... I'm in another time! But where- or better, when am I?'

Just then I heard a couple of voices, coming from behind me. I turned around and looked at the opening inside of the huge wall that surrounded Fogbound Lake.

"I can't believe we actually get to see Fogbound Lake!" A familiar, male voice entered my ears while I tensed up and focused my eyes onto the entrance.

When three figures stepped out of the shadow of the opening, I gasped.

A Pikachu with a red scarf around its neck, a Chimchar with pair of desert goggles on its head and a backpack strapped onto its back and an Uxie were now in front if me, looking at me with wide open eyes.

My mind was about to break down at that moment. "R-Riley?! O-Ozu?!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Uxie shouted and tensed up.

"Why do you know our names?" the Chimchar questioned while he and the Pikachu tensed up as well.

"Why I know your-" I ignored Uxie tried to deal with the fact that Ozu just claimed that he didn't know me. The first thought that came go my mind was that he probably didn't recognize me because I was a Lucario. "It's me! Ri!"

The Pokemon in front of me responded with confused looks. "We don't know anyone with that name," Riley stated, making my eyes widen in shock.

'They don't know me?! How can they-'

At that moment I realized that something was missing...

Me.

'I'm not here... We came up here together but I'm not here! It this... Is this another timeline? One where I didn't get teleported to the guild? Or maybe... Maybe this is a timeline where I never existed in the first place!' It took me a while to process this and when my thoughts shifted to all the pros and cons of my current situation, another question of Uxie interrupted them.

"You're the thief..." The psychic-type pointed at the glowing artifact in my right hand. "And now you're here to steal the Time Gear from Fogbound Lake." He looked at the two Pokemon next to him. "I need your help, you two. We have to defeat her and take back the gear-"

"W-wait! I'm not the thief!" I yelled, holding my paws out to them in a defensive position. "This _is _the Time Gear from Fogbound Lake!"

"Explain," Uxie simply replied, the dust around him raising into the air from the power he was focusing around him.

"I'm from another time! I..." My eyes fell onto the now confused Pokemon next to the psychic-type. "From where I come from, I was a member of Team Ignition!"

"You know our team name?" Ozu asked, seeming to get even more confused.

"Y-yes! You're Riley and you're a human that has lost her memory! You're Ozu and your dream is to become one of the greatest explorers in the world!" I continued in a desperate tone. "You formed the team after Riley helped you to get back your Relic Fragment from Zubat and Koffing! You saved Azurill from Drowsy because of Riley's ability to see into future!"

That caused their eyes to widen. "How can you know?!"

"Because you told me in the timeline I come from!" I explained.

"Is this t...r...u...e?" Uxie's voice suddenly sounded as if it was being slowed down. His body and the bodies of my friends slowly stopped to move while the whole scenery around me began to flicker in a green light.

A frown wandered onto my face. 'First I end up in another timeline where I probably never existed and now this?'

"What is happening?" The three Pokemon in front of me seemed to be frozen and began to give off the same light as the rest of the area. "Uhm... Hello?"

My eyes widened when the green light slowly turned grey and rectangular fragments of the floor around me began to break into smaller black particles that floated into the air, revealing a black void underneath them. 'What the fuck is this?'

When the ground underneath me began to turn grey and busted into a cloud of small rectangles, I jumped back a bit and grit my teeth as my stomach lit up in pain. This caused me to lose my grip on the Time Gear in my hand and right when it left my paw, it felt as is some sort of connection between the artifact and me was broken up.

My whole body was suddenly drained of the little energy I still had left and the edge of my vision turned black while the last thing I was able to see was how my friends busted into the same black particles as the surroundings did.

'Ugh...' My last thought before I completely lost consciousness was one simple word.

'Fuck...'

* * *

Pain and exhaustion... That were the first two perceptions I had when I regained my consciousness and opened my eyes again.

I felt like a mess. My whole body felt numb and my vision was blurry. It seemed as if a dense fog was laying over all of my perceptions and even thinking properly was a struggle.

It took me quite some time to realize that Cobal was carrying me in his arms. 'I'm back? What the hell happened back there?' The Lucario stopped when he noticed that I was awake.

"Ri? How are you?" the Lucario questioned in a concerned tone. "Whatever the gear did you almost drained your aura to a critical level."

Although I wanted to reply with my common response to that question "I've been worse", I decided to remain silent as saying this would've been a lie. I didn't remember if I actually had been in a worse condition before but my current state definitly fell into the top ten.

"Not good..." I replied weakly. "What happened?"

"After you touched the Time Gear, your whole body began to give off a green glow and it almost looked as if you were transparent for a minute of so," he explained. "The glow faded when the gear suddenly fell out of your hand. It seemed like you were in some kind of trance and then you fainted."

'So I was still in this time while I was in the other one as well? Ugh... My head is killing me... I'll think about this later...' After processing his words, I asked the next obvious question. "What about the Time Gear and Uxie?"

"I have the gear in one of my pouches... I didn't find the symbol on your paw after we left Fogbound Lake so I assume that the gear doesn't radiate the energy that affects you. One possibility would be because it was taken from its original place... Or maybe it's because you somehow absorbed a part of its energy when you touched it and that's why it doesn't activate the symbol anymore," he continued.

"So touching the Time Gear didn't solve the problem with the gear from Treeshroud Forest and only brought up even more questions... Ugh..." A frown wandered onto my face. 'It only managed to throw me into another timeline... Great...'

"But at least we are one step closer to finishing this mission," the Lucario replied. "Uxie said he would contact Azelf and visit Mesprit afterwards, meaning that we won't have to fight Azelf at Crystal Cave."

"Oh..." My dazed mind was still trying to process the events from the other timeline while I turned my head to the side to inspect my surroundings. I could see that it was evening. At the same time I realized that the two of us were on a soiled path with forests at its sidelines, I also registered that Cobal was holding me in a rather embarrassing way...

My cheeks heated up a bit and a sigh left my mouth as memories of Grovyle's and now Cobal's faces being dangerously close to mine flew through my mind. 'Bridal style... Why do they always have to do that?'

"Where are we?" I asked, looking at our surroundings again.

"We're heading towards Southern Jungle right now... However, I've heard of a small settlement that lies near the eastern border of the jungle so we're making a little stop there," the Lucario explained.

"Right... I still need someone to look at my wounds." I looked up at my partner face again. "By the way... Can you let me down, please?"

He stopped and gave me a concerned look. "Are you sure you can walk?"

"I'll try..." The knight thankfully let me down onto my feet but as soon as I tried to put some weight on my legs, I kinked in, almost falling onto my knees. "Dammit..."

Cobal lifted me up by my shoulders and supported me. "You've lost a lot of blood and whatever happened to you when you touched the Time Gear must've put a lot of strain on your body too. Let me carry you."

I didn't like the idea of having to be carried like the way he did before. When I was just about to reject his offer, a throb of pain shot out from my stomach and I began to doubt that I could walk on my own like this, no matter how hard I tried. 'Fine... But I'm not going to let myself get carried like a bride!'

An idea popped into my head. "Uhm... Can you piggyback me? It's kind embarrassing if you hold me like that."

The knight blinked and turned red for some reason. "Y-you want me to piggyback you?"

Raising an eye-brow, I wondered why he would react like this to such a simple request. "What about it? Better than the way you carried me before."

"But that way I'd have to-" The knight eyes swayed downwards for a second and it almost seemed like he had a blush on his face. He muttered something under his breath but I could make out something that sounded like the words 'displays' and 'grab'.

I was a little confused by his sudden weird behavior. "What?"

The knight faced me again and shook his head before he cleared his throat and his face returned to its calm expression. "It's nothing..."

He turned around, squatted down a little and prepared his arms to carry my body. I slowly slung my arms around his neck and put my thighs onto his readied hands. When he suddenly moved his hands onto my rear to get a better grip on me, I turned a little red from the way he held up my body.

"All good?" Cobal asked, turning his head to the side.

"Y-yeah... I'm okay," I answered, trying to ignore the fact that he had his hands on my butt.

The Lucario looked forward and started to walk again. "Try to get some rest... We'll talk about what happened to you later... Are you okay with that?"

"Okay..." I said, resting my head against the back of his head and closing my eyes. After a couple of minutes, when I was just about to fall asleep, Celsius' voice rang through my mind.

_Dammit, this is boring... Maybe she'll dream of me if I shout at her mind long enough... Hello, Ri! I guess you're stil__l unconscious... Are you having some perverted dreams about you and that Grovyle right now?_

My left eye twitched. 'The only thing I'm dreaming about is you hanging from the ceiling and me using you as a punching bag.'

_R-Ri?! O-oh! Ahaha, sorry! Please forget what I just said!_

'If you talk about the things you saw in my head one more time, I'll see that that dream comes true.'

_Yyyeah... I'll remember that... Anyway, are you okay? You've been unconscious for quite a while._

'Yeah... There has been some complications... I'll tell you about them another time... Have you three been to Wigglytuff's guild yet?'

_Yes, we have... And well, Wigglytuff and Magnezone were just about finished with their discussion about you when we arrived. We told them everything about you and Cobal and about our plan. It looks like the three of us are the messengers for the other teams._

'That's great... Cobal and me are heading to Southern Jungle right now.'

_Hey! That's where I'm heading too! Corrine is on his way to the Northern Desert and Siavon handles Team Raider at Crystal Cave!_

'Let's meet up at Boulder Quarry then... I guess we'll reach it first so we'll wait for you.'

_Sounds like a plan._

'Anything else from Wigglytuff?'

_Well, he's starting to look for Temporal Tower... The other guild-members don't know about our little mental-link but they said I should tell you that they'll have a little word with you when you come back to Treasure Town._

'Ugh...'

_Chatot mentioned that he'll have you write the mission-letters for the next two months after you finish your mission._

'Paperwork?! But I'm not even part of the guild any-'

_Nope... Wigglytuff destroyed the letter for the federation that was meant to expel you, meaning that you're still associated with the guild._

'I'll have to thank him for this but I'm not a part of Team Ignition anymore... Not until I've found a way to save my friends and they want me back on their team.'

_About the thing with being on your old team... Wigglytuff has some kind of surprise for you when you come back to Treasure Town._

'Huh?'

_I don't know the details... He only said that he would explain everything to you when you're back..._

'Alright... I'll remember to ask him about this...'

'Uhm... I'm sorry to end our conversation like that but I really need a rest... I'm tired as hell and somehow my whole body is numb.'

_Right... Well, I hope you get better soon... We'll continue our chat when you're fit again. Bye!_

'Bye, Celsius...' I decided to tell Cobal about Celsius after a little nap... I felt completely exhausted and everything that was on my mind was to finally get some sleep. Cobal's shoulder actually turned out be quite the comfortable pillow.

It didn't even take me more than a couple of minutes to doze off.

* * *

A pleasant feeling crawled over my body when I woke up again. Comfort.

I was rested on something that seemed to be a mattress, felt a pillow under my head and a blanket on top of me. 'Mmmh... This bed feels nice... Wait... A bed?'

Letting out a yawn, I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted with the image of a wooden ceiling. 'I'm inside somewhere...' I raised my body into a sitting position and inspected the room I was in.

It was a small rectangular room with a window to my right, a door to my left, a closet in front of me and a small nightstand next to the bed I was sitting on. Just then I realized that I hadn't receive a jolt of pain from the movements.

Pulling the blanket off my body, I moved my gaze down onto my stomach. The bandages were gone not the slightest trace of the two cuts that had been on my belly could be found on it, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. There wasn't a single scratch on my whole body. "W-whoa, what happened to my wounds?"

"Huh?" A voice said from outside the door. My eyes focused on the entrance of the room while the door opened and a pink Pokemon stepped into the room.

I recognized it as an Audino but gave it a confused look when I saw its eyes. They were green instead of the blue ones that the species usually had. The Pokemon had some kind of necklace around its neck... There was some strangely familiar marble attached to it but when I tried to look at it a little closer, the normal-type spoke up.

"Well, look who's awake again! Hi, I'm Peon!" it cheered with a female voice.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 36**

* * *

_Yup... __Ri destroyed the original timeline of the PMD Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky games in this chapter... Great job!_

_I wonder if this is the Time Scar, Celebi talked about in chapter 34... Well, too late to ask her about it now, is it? (Damn that was evil...)_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	37. Nagi Village

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Whew...  
_

_It is done. School is over. I'm free._

_But not for long... I have to go on a military-program everyone is forced to do after they finish school in my country... For six months... But I'll be able to write on weekends so that's at least something. _

_Anyway, today I'm bringing you an actual new chapter! Hurray!_

_The big revision?_

_Err... Motivation was more focused on progress for this chapter? Whoops... _

_Chapter 2 and 3 will be updated in the near future... I'll put up another update-chapter as usual... _

_But I guess a new chapter is what the readers really want, right? _

* * *

**Chapter 37 - Nagi Village  
**

* * *

I blinked and gave the apparently female Audino named Peon a confused look. "Uhm... Hello... My name is Ri."

"Nice to see that you're fit again! You were in a pretty bad shape when your friend brought you here last night," she replied.

'With friend she must mean Cobal... I guess he managed to get me into a village...'

"About _here_... Uhm... Where am I?" I asked looking through the window to my right. The only thing I could make out behind the glass was a blue sky and a couple of trees. It was pretty bright outside so I assumed that it was around noon.

"You're at the inn of Nagi Village which is right next to the eastern border of Southern Jungle," the normal-type answered.

"Nagi Village?" I repeated, trying to remember if I had seen that name on a Wonder Map before. 'I should've looked at the Wonder Map a few more times... I guess this is the village Cobal was talking about...'

"You must wonder how you got here... Well, from what your friend told me, you two got into a fight and you got injured pretty badly. You didn't wake up again after you fell asleep on his back so he got worried and ran all the way here to get help for you," she began to explain. "He arrived about three hours after midnight and almost broke down the front door. The noise woke everyone up and half of the Pokemon that stayed here ran down into the lobby to see what was going on. After the owner opened the door, he carried you inside and asked for help."

'Cobal ran through almost the whole night, carrying me? I... I guess I owe him more than a set of shoulder plates now. He saved my life...' Thinking a little closer about it made me realize that this wasn't the only time the Lucario had saved me. When he carried me away from the portal at Treasure Town, during our fight with Uxie's illusion and Uxie himself... And now this... I hadn't even properly thanked him for one of those moments.

My trail of thought was interrupted when Peon spoke up again. "I happened to be one of the Pokemon that stayed here and I also happened to be a healer so I helped you out!"

"You healed me?" My gaze fell down at my completely healed stomach. "But how? There were two huge cuts on my belly and now they're just gone!"

"Ever heard of Mega Evolution?" the normal-type asked with a grin while she fiddled around with the marble on her necklace.

"You can mega-evolve?" I returned, focusing my view onto the stone. It looked similar to Cobal's, the only difference being that it was colored white and pink instead of Cobal's red, black and blue stone.

She winked at me and flashed me a grin. "Yes, I can! Aside from making me a lot stronger, it also powers up my healing-abilities. That's why I was able to heal your injuries and also why I could increase your body's blood-production to raise your blood back to a healthy level."

"Increase my body's blood production? You can really do something like this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a special form of using Heal Pulse that I created. All you need to do is to focus the move straight into your patients bone-marrow to stimulate the production of new blood cells!" Her smile faded and a serious look wandered onto her face. "The diagnosis I made wasn't really something you'd want to show to anyone. Two huge cuts on your stomach, several other cuts and bruises, a critical blood-level and your body was almost stripped of all of its aura."

My first response was a distasteful look. "That was definitly in my top ten..."

"You've been in a lot of fights, huh? Well, something else I'd like to talk about is that arm of yours... It's-" she started to say while her eyes moved onto my arm.

Knowing what kind of question she would ask, I interrupted her before she could go on. "I know, I know! The burn indicates that it should've been amputated..."

"That's right... So that raises my question, who-"

"I have amnesia so I don't remember who treated it," I interrupted the normal-type again. Telling her that I got it after I was thrown through the portal at Treasure Town would've led to explaining my whole story to her so I kept it at that.

"Amnesia?" Peon repeated as she folded her arms.

"Yeah, I woke up in a forest a couple of weeks ago, with no memory what so ever... But I had some memory shreds and remembered a couple of things from my past," I explained. "I've met a Riolu who's a doctor too and he said that a key-word or a familiar situation might get me to remember everything."

"I see..." She sighed. "Well, that's too bad. I would've loved to meet the Pokemon who treated your arm. Whoever it was might've been able to help me with a few new treatment-methods I'm working on..."

"Uhm... Anyway, do you know where my partner is right now?" I questioned.

"Oh! Yes, he said that he would take a look around the village about an hour ago," she explained, unfolding her arms.

"Hmm... Can I get out of my bed?"

"Yeah, sure! But before I can let you go outside to look for your friend we have two more things to talk about..." the Audino replied.

I slid to the side of the bed and brought my feet onto the floor. "What is it?"

The Audino walked over to the nightstand and opened a little box that was placed on top of it. "I might've healed all of your injuries but your body still hasn't fully recovered..." She said while she pulled out a bottle that was filled with some kind of green liquid. "Because you were stripped of almost all of your aura, your body has a hard time to properly circulate your aura through it as it has to replenish the one you lost at the same time."

"And this medicine will solve that problem?" I asked, eyeing the bottle with a curious look. 'I guess I didn't notice that problem last time I've been to Fogbound Lake because I've slept for five days afterwards...'

Peon closed the box again and held the potion out to me. "This is a mixture of Sitrus Berry Juice, Heal Seeds, Doom Seeds and some other ingredients. And yes, it's going to solve your problem. The source of every living being's life force lies somewhere near their stomaches. It slowly spreads into the rest of your body from there and flows through every limb. If you slow down that flow, you can increase the pace at which your aura regenerates. The Sitrus Berry Juice will speed up the process even further!"

"That's where I feel the flame from which I draw the power to use my moves..." I muttered to myself, focusing on the faint feeling of the blue flame inside me. "This is great!" I cheered, grabbing the bottle out of her hand. When I was just about to pull out the cork, I blinked and gave her a skeptical look. "Wait a second... Doom Seeds? That doesn't sound good."

"The substances of the Doom Seeds will slow down the flow of aura in your system so your body can focus on replenishing your life force. The Sitrus Berries and Heal Seeds are there to counter the negative effects of the Doom Seeds," the Audino replied.

"Negative effects?" My expression turned even more skeptical.

"Headache, dizziness, stomachache, an overall feeling of weakness... And the inability to use any moves or abilities," she said monotonely.

"But the other stuff that's in there is going to prevent that, right?" I asked, turning a little nervous.

The normal-type nodded in response and gave me a warm smile. "Yup!"

"Alright then... Here it goes..." Uncorking the bottle, I slowly brought it up to my mouth. The smell was a little strange but somehow resembled Sitrus Berries. With one big gulp I drank the green medicine and almost choked when a horribly bitter taste made its way onto my tongue.

*cough* "Ugh! It tastes horrible..." I said, handing the empty potion back to Peon.

"Most medicine tastes horrible..." She took it and put it back into the box she had taken it from. "I think I should mention that the Sitrus Berries and Heal Seeds only counter the first four side effects," Peon added, picking up the box and putting it under her left arm.

"What?" A look of disbelief wandered onto my face.

"You won't be able to draw on your aura for a day but that way it's going to completely restore itself after only one night instead of a couple of days," she responded, giving me a mischievous grin.

Not really willing to believe her, I held out my hand in front of me and tried to create one of my bones. As soon as I came to the part where I drew on the power inside of me, I noticed that something was off.

Normally my aura would flow fluidly through my arm and enable me to form it into a bone, but now it suddenly felt as if I was pumping a very thick liquid through a much too thin pipe.

Seeing that I didn't even manage to pull out enough aura to radiate it from my palm, I turned towards the Audino next to me and growled at her. "Couldn't you have told me that before I drank this stuff? What if someone attacks me and I have to defend myself!?"

An indifferent expression wandered onto her face. "You are in a village full of Pokemon... You also have that friend of yours as a bodyguard... I think you'll survive one day without using any aura."

I could only growl again in response. "When will this stuff wear off again?"

"Around 20 hours... Everything will be back to normal when you wake up tomorrow," she assured.

"Great..." My head slumped down while I let out a sigh. 'I'm completely defenseless for a whole day...' I blinked and rose my head again as, for some reason, I turned a little angry when I pictured myself as weak. 'What am I thinking? Just because I can't use any moves doesn't mean I can't fight!'

"Ri? Hello?" Peon pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry! What?" I asked, bringing my attention back to her.

"I said that I'm a little curious about you and the knight... Are you two like... Together?" she questioned with curious look.

"Togeth-" At first I only raised an eyebrow but as soon as I realized what she was implying, a shocked expression appeared on my face. "What? No! Cobal isn't my boyfriend! He's like ten years older than me!"

"Oh, sorry... It's just that the way your face was snuggled against his while he carried you into the inn kinda suggested otherwise..." the normal-type replied.

'How my face was snuggled against his?' The image that formed in my head made me feel kinda strange and I turned red a bit. "U-uhm..."

Peon gave me a grin. "So he's still free, huh?"

My expression turned into a confused one. "You want something from him?"

"He's pretty handsome... Why can't I try my luck?" she responded, her grin forming into a smile.

Portraing her and Cobal in my mind made me even more confused. An Audino, that looked rather young, with a Lucario next to it... "Uhm... Sorry, but how old are you? You don't look anything near 27..."

"So he's 27... Hmm... Still not the oldest guy I dated." She said, folding her arms. "Oh! I'm 13!"

"What the hell?!" I could only give her another shocked look.

"Yeah, I like older guys... So what?" Peon replied with a pout.

I continued to stare at her. "B-but 13! And you said you dated someone older than 27?! With what kinds of pedophiles did you go out?!"

The Audino smirked. "Well, what can I say? I guess I have the amazing ability to get every guy to go on a date with me!"

"But still... 13?! What did you do with those guys?" My look turned even more shocked when an inappropriate thought appeared in my head. "D-don't tell me you've already-"

She interrupted me. "Already what? Mated with someone? Heck, no! I'm not gonna do that until I'm older." Another mischievous grin wandered onto her face. "What about you?"

"H-huh? N-no! I..." I had to stop there and think about it for a moment. 'How am I supposed to answer when I don't remember anything about my past?! I think I'm 17... I guess that's around the age where...'

My face turned crimson red as thoughts of how "mating" with another Pokemon would look like rushed through my head. I wanted to slap myself when a rather inappropriate image of Grovyle and me slowly formed in my mind. 'God, what am I thinking?!'

Just then, Celsius' voice screamed in my head.

_OH! MY! GOD! You actually do have perverted thoughts about that Grovyle!_

My jaw dropped and my face managed to turn even redder than it already was.

'C-Celsius?!'

_I mean, I don't have a problem with naughty images like that but at least warn me before you send me something like this._

'I didn't intend to send you anything like that!'

_Well, you obviously thought very hard about that image if it made its way through our mental-link... Hey! Want to see it again?_

_An image of Grovyle, holding me in a tight embrace with our mouths locked into a passionate kiss flashed into my mind._

My face must've been redder than red at that moment.

"Why so red all of a sudden? You did mate with somebody, didn't you?" Peon questioned with a smirk.

My attention moved back to Peon. "N-no! I mean... I don't know... I can't remember... I..."

_Note to self, Ri loves it when someone implies that she already had her way with someone... And pictures of her and Grovyle where they're making out with each other!_

_Another picture rushed through my head._

"Shut up, Celsius! I'm not in the mood for this right now! I'll talk with you when I'm finished here, alright?" I unintentionally snapped out loud.

_Okay, okay! It's nice to hear that you're back with the living..._

Peon stared at me like I was crazy... And I couldn't blame her. "Err... Celsius?"

"A Kirlia that has formed a mental-link with me... She's a real pain in the ass sometimes..." I explained, letting out a sigh.

_Love you too!_

Peon seemed to let it go through her head for a moment before she spoke up again. "Okaaay... Anyway, I guess you want to drop the current topic?"

"Yes, please..." I answered, lowly growling at her. "Pedophilia isn't a topic anyone should talk about."

The normal-type put on a pout. "I told you I'd wait until I'm older!"

"Ugh... Let's just get back to our own business," I said, getting onto my feet.

She slowly walked towards the door. "Alright, then! If you don't feel good, just come back here to the inn and I'll take care of you. There's another sick Pokemon staying here and I got to take care of him... It's the room at the end of the hallway."

"Thank you..." I replied, giving her one last glance.

"Well, gotta go!" Peon walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Bye..." I sighed and looked around the room again. In front of me, next to the door, stood a table with two chairs next to it. My belt, pouches and the fake sword were placed on top of it.

I contacted Celsius while I walked up to my equipment. 'Alright Celsius... Now we can talk.'

_Hello, Ri! I've been worried about you!_

'Well, I'm fine now so there's nothing to worry about. Apparently Cobal and me are in Nagi Village, which lies near the eastern border of the Southern Jungle.' I explained while I grabbed Grovyle's pouch and opened it. A few Oran Berries, my Luminous Orb and my broken desert-goggles were still inside.

_Nagi Village? Never heard of it... I'm gonna need another day or so to reach the jungle. I'll probably arrive at Boulder Quarry tomorrow evening._

Closing the pouch again, I attached it to my right upper leg and picked up my belt. 'Okay... I guess we'll stay another night at this village then and head to the quarry next morning.'

_Sounds like a plan. I'll hurry up a little so we arrive at the same time... So what exactly happened to you? Yesterday you were almost dying on me and now you're completely fine again?_

'There was a healer at the inn we're staying... She healed all of my injuries and gave me some medicine so my aura restores faster.' I opened the four pouches, checking their containments. Some more Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, a few Seeds and my old wanted poster.

_I see... By the way, how's the knight? Have you even told him that you were talking with me?_

'No, not yet... I'm going to look for him now.' I closed the pouches and put my belt around my hip. 'I'll contact you again when I've talked with him.'

_Alright then. I'll hear you later!_

'Oh! One more thing.' A glare wandered onto my face. 'About those pictures... I'm starting to like the idea of using you as a punching bag.'

_Oh, come on! It's hilarious!_

'Just wait until we meet at Boulder Quarry...'

_Okay! Okay! No more images like that...  
_

'Bye, Celsius.' A sigh left my mouth while my gaze moved back onto the table.

_Later!_

The only object left was my sword, putting a confused expression on my face. My blue scarf was missing. 'Cobal must've thrown it away. That thing was ripped and had black burn marks all over it... Hmm... I never really liked to wear a scarf like that anyway.'

I hesitantly moved my paw to the handle of the sword and inspected it. 'Should I wear it? Knowing my luck, I'll probably run into another fight pretty soon. And now that I'm not able to use any moves, it's even more likely to get into yet another predicament.' After some debating, I decided to take the blade with me and put into the holster on the left side of my belt.

Now that I was ready, I walked to the door to my right and stepped out of my room. After I closed it behind me, I found myself in a hallway that ran to my left and right and had several doors scattered on each side. On my right side, I saw a dead-end with a window. To my left, I found a staircase that lead to a lower floor.

I made my way down the steps and entered what seemed to be the lobby of the inn. At the bottom of the staircase, I took a closer look at it. The lobby wasn't very big. In front of me I could see a double door that lead outside. To my right was the reception.

An orange, otter-like Pokemon was standing behind it. A Buizel.

"Oh! You're awake!" it said in a male voice.

I walked up to the counter and greeted him. "Uhm... Hello. I'm Ri."

"Welcome to Teky's Inn! I'm Teky, the owner," Teky replied with a warm smile. "At first I was a little angry with your friend for barging in like that but when I saw the badly hurt Lucario he was carrying, I kinda understood his actions... You were really lucky that that Peon girl was staying here!"

"I guess I was... Peon said that my friend went outside to take a look around the town. Do you, by any chance, know where he went?" I asked.

"He left around an hour ago so I can't tell where he is right now," the Buizel replied.

"Thank you, anyway... I'm going to look for him." I was just about to turn around when the inn keeper stopped me.

"Hey, wait up a second. You haven't even gotten a key for your room yet!" he said, turning around and grabbing a key from a table that stood behind him. "Your friend reserved for two days so can spend another night here," he explained, holding the key out to me. "I usually lock the front door around midnight, so don't stay out too long."

"Don't worry! I don't think we'll stay outside that long." I thankfully took the key and put it into one of the pouches on my belt. When I was just about to turn around again, I realized something. "I guess I should lock the door before I leave..."

"Nah! Just go and look for your friend! I'll lock it up for you!" Teky offered with a smile while he grabbed another key from behind him.

"Oh! Okay! Thanks!" I gave him a smile and waved at him before I made my way to the front door.

When I went outside, I found myself in small village that had several huts and other buildings running along the street which I was now standing on. As my gaze swayed around town, I noticed a few unique features of the settlement. Tropical-looking trees were scattered between the buildings and on top of them I could see treehouses which were connected to each other with wooden suspension bridges.

I also noticed a couple of Pokemon that were walking on the street. Some of them seemed to be explorers which were simply passing through while others looked like villagers, going after their daily business.

Cobal was sadly not one of them.

"Now where should I look for him?" I muttered to myself, looking down the road to my left.

When I was just about to wander off to look through the buildings, I suddenly heard a male voice from behind me. "Look for who?"

When I turned to the owner, I met the sight of a Dewott. The blue, otter-like Pokemon wore a black coat that was long enough to barely touch the ground and had a hood on the back. A zipper, that ran from his mid-section, up to just below his collar, held the coat together.

"Uhm..." I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this stranger. On first glance, he seemed to be nice so I decided to answer. "I'm looking for my friend. He's a Lucario like me and wears a blue scarf and some armor. Have you seen him?"

"No, sorry... I haven't seen him. But maybe you would like me to help you look?" the water-type offered with a smile.

"Oh, uhm..." I turned a little confused by his offer. "Sure, but... How comes? I don't think we've met before."

"Well, you might not have heard of me but I've heard a lot about you, oh, great Spirit of Faith!" he grinned.

At first I was surprised that he recognized me but then my gaze fell down onto my burnt limb. "The arm really gives me away, huh?"

Realizing what him knowing me meant, I faced him again with a curious look. "You're from Alteal?"

"Yup... Nagi Village is the nearest town to the eastern coast of Treasure. Alteal lies east of Treasure so it's the first stop for many Pokemon that travel to this continent," the Dewott explained before his expression turned confused. "But shouldn't you know this? You're from Alteal yourself, right?"

"Uhm... Sorry, but I kinda have amnesia. I woke up in a forest a couple of weeks ago, with no memory what so ever," I replied in a slightly embarrassed tone. "I guess I'm not as great as you think I am right now."

He blinked and didn't respond for a moment. "The Spirit of Faith has amnesia, huh?" The water-type shook his head and put up another smile. "Anyway... So what kind of catastrophe are you preventing today... Or do you have no clue about that either?"

A thoughtful look appeared on my face. 'Should I tell him? I don't want to bring up a commotion or anything...'

I put on a half-hearted smile. "There really is something going on right now but I don't want to trouble anyone. I bet you'll hear from it sooner or later if you go to Treasure Town."

"Oh... Okay..." He suddenly blinked and seemed to be a bit shocked about something. "Where are my manners? I'm drilling you with questions and haven't even introduced myself yet!" The Dewott closed his eyes and kneeled down before me.

'Err... What is he doing?'

"I'm Suke... A wandering swordsman and..." He grabbed my right paw and pulled it to his lips. "... an admirer of beautiful women all around the world," Suke finished as he kissed the back of my hand.

'Beautiful women?' That actually managed to fluster me and put a faint blush on my face. 'He... He thinks I'm beautiful?'

"U-uhm... I'm Ri..." I replied while he let go of my paw and got up again. My eyes were focused at the back of my hand for a second before I shook my head to regain my composure.

"Ri..." Suke repeated in a thoughtful tone and put on another smile. "That's a nice name..." He then moved his gaze onto the town. "So... Where should we look first?"

"How about we just walk down that road at first? If he's inside one of those shops, I'm sure we'll see him," I suggested looking at the street to our left.

"Or... Maybe we could look for him at that restaurant at the end of the street? We could get some lunch there too!" the Dewott replied, pointing at a building that stood at the other end of the road to our right.

"Let's look at the shops over there first... I think there's a bigger chance to find him there and besides, I'm not really hung-" Just then my stomach growled furiously. Everything was silent for a moment while my face slowly started to heat up and a huge grin appeared on the coat-wearing Pokemon's face.

"Uhm... Okay... I'm hungry but I don't have any money..." I said, rubbing my belly and turning away from him to hide my red face.

"It's my treat then!" Suke offered, his grin getting even wider.

"You would really treat someone that you've just met to a meal like that?" I asked, not really able to understand his intentions. "Is it because I'm the Spirit of Faith?"

"Maybe..." he answered with another grin while he walked ahead.

'Okaay... I guess being the Spirit of Faith has its benefits...' A nervous smile wandered onto my face as I followed him. 'Knowing my eating habits, that grin of his will be wiped off as soon as he sees the bill...'

We made our way onto the street and wandered towards the restaurant at the end of the road. Some of the bypassing Pokemon were giving me, or rather my burnt arm, curious looks. I was a little annoyed by the stares but as soon as I wanted to actually growl at a particularly curious bystander, Suke tapped my shoulder.

"By the way, what kind of sword are you wearing there? It looks kinda familiar..." he asked, eying the blade on my belt.

My left paw moved down to the handle to my weapon. "This? It's just a replica that my friend gave to me. He said that it's a copy of the Sword of Alteal or something..."

"Oh, it's just a replica..." He suddenly looked disappointed. "And here I thought I'm talking with someone who's into sword-fighting..."

I put my paw onto my chin. "I do know some basic movements but I'm not really a fan of weapons..."

"Hmm... I see... Well, I'm pretty good at fighting with a tanto!" he said, pulling out a sheathed tanto sword from under his coat. "I usually just fight with my razor shells but I've created a style that uses three weapons at the same time!"

Raising an eyebrow, I looked at his weapon with a curious expression. "Fighting with three swords at the same time? How do you do tha-"

The Dewott didn't even give me the time to complete the question as he quickly unsheathed his blade and threw it into the air above him. At the same time the weapon was spinning in the air, he quickly put the scabbard back under his coat and grabbed the shells that were attached to his thighs. With one last motion he caught the tanto with his teeth and got into a battle stance.

"Fseh thad?" he asked, the handle between his teeth keeping him from speaking properly.

At first I admired his skill and looked at him with shining eyes while a desire to ask him about all the movements of his style rose up in me but when I was just about to open my mouth, I noticed that shocked and confused looks of the bystanding Pokemon. "That's pretty creative but would you mind to put that stuff back? People are already staring..." I noted with nervous smile.

"Oh! Fhory!" he quickly placed his razor shells back onto his tights, sheathed his weapon and put it back under his black coat.

We then continued to make our way to the restaurant.

"By the way..." Suke suddenly seemed to be a little nervous for some reason. "I know this is kinda blunt but... How about we turn this lunch into a date?" he asked with an expectant smile on his face.

"A date?" I faced him with a look of slight disbelief, my cheeks heating up again. 'What's with this guy? He's so straight forward and gets right to the point... God this is weird...' Although I had to admit that he managed to flustered me again and actually considered his proposal, some voices at the back of my head were calling out to me, telling me to reject him.

'I'm human... Would I really go on a date with a Pokemon?'

'A-and what about Grovyle? Wouldn't I betray my feelings for him if I accepted now?'

'Would I really go on a date with a guy that I just met five minutes ago?'

Those questions decided my answer for me...

"Uhm... We've only met a few minutes ago and I'm also not really sure if I would want that kind of relationship with a Pokemon. How about we just become-" Just then I noticed that the Dewott wasn't walking besides me anymore.

When I turned around, I met the sight of a water-type that was covering on the ground, a depressive looking background behind his form and a black raincloud hanging above his head.

"-friends..." I finished with a sweatdrop. 'Really?'

"Just friends... I'm a failure... How could I think someone like her would actually go out with someone like me..." the Dewott mumbled to himself.

A nervous smile joined the sweatdrop. "Uhm... Suke?"

He kept on muttering inaudible murmurs and didn't respond to any of my calls.

'I bet he's going to keep up this act as long as I don't accept his proposal... Great... I guess I could just walk away and leave him there.' Just when I was about to turn around, my stomach grumbled again. 'Going on a date to get free food... Dignity is nice and all but I'm really hungry...' A sigh left my mouth. "Okay, fine... Let's call it a date but I'm not sure if this would-"

Before I could even finish my sentence the Dewott shot up to his feet and faced me with a bright smile and shimmering eyes. "Really!? Alright! Let's go!" Suke yelled, grabbing my hand.

"W-wait!" That were my last words before I was almost lifted off my feet while the Dewott sprinted towards the end of the street, dragging me with him.

In a matter of seconds, I found myself on the other end of the village, panting hard and completely exhausted.

*pant* "Wow... I'm... out of... breath..." *pant*

"What's wrong? That were only twenty meters. Don't tell me the legendary Spirit of Faith has the endurance of a Magikarp!" Suke joked, patting me on my back.

"What?" I panted, looking behind me to see that the distance I had just run really was almost nothing. 'What the hell? How can that short run exhaust me like that? Is... Is it the potion Peon gave me? How am I supposed to fight when I'm completely exhausted after dealing one hit? Ugh...' A sigh left my mouth after my breathing returned to normal. "Sorry, I might be a little out of shape..."

Wiping off the sweat that had formed on my forehead, I looked up at the building we were now standing in next to. A big sign was placed above the front door.

_**Gourmet Lickitung's**_

'Gourmet Lickitung's... I wonder what kind of food they have...' My gaze moved back to the excited looking Dewott next to me. 'This guy is crazy... First he's depressed and now he's completely hyper and all... Ugh... For now I'll play along with the whole date thing...'

"Come on! Let's get inside!" Suke said, approaching the door.

We entered the restaurant and found ourselves in a room with several tables and chairs placed all around it. A few Pokemon were sitting on some of them, giving us a quick glance as we stepped inside and closed the door behind us.

One of the waiters, which was a Patrat, immediately greeted us with a smile. "Hello! Welcome to Gourmet Lickitung's! A table for two, I presume?"

"Yes, please," Suke replied.

The normal-type led us to a table at the other side of the room and handed two menus to us. After ordering some drinks, Prow Berry Juice for me and a simple glass of water for Suke, the Pokemon left us to ourselves and wandered to the counter on the right side of the restaurant.

I was just about to open the menu to decide on a meal, when the water-type that was sitting on the other side of the table spoke up again.

"So... Seeing that this is a date, I think we should get to know each other a little better," he suggested.

"Uhm... Okay. What do you want to know?" I asked, flicking through the first couple of pages of the menu.

"Hmm... Likes and dislikes, that kind of stuff!" the Dewott replied.

"Well, I'm into martial-arts so I guess I like fighting and training... Oh! I also like eating-contests!" I explained, actually feeling a little embarrassed about myself. "Dislikes... Uhm... I absolutely despise the thought of killing someone... and I hate to lie..."

"So you're a martial-artist that loves to eat and hates killing and lying," Suke summarised, nodding to himself. "Now that you've mentioned fighting... I'm a little curious about how strong the Spirit of Faith really is. Would you tell me a little about your fighting-style?"

"Well... If you know the legend about me, you should also know that I really am a human," I started in a somewhat nervous tone. "I was a martial-artist in my world so I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand combat."

"I see... What about your abilities as a Pokemon? What moves do you know?" he asked with a curious look.

"I know Bone Rush, Force Palm, Aerial Ace, Attract, Extremespeed and... Uhm... I also remembered using some other moves in a couple of memory shreds I had but I didn't have the time yet to actually try them out properly," I answered, letting out that I knew Demon's Embrace. I wanted to keep it to myself until I've talked about it with Cobal.

"Wow!" he responded in surprised tone. "What about abilities?"

"Abilities? Hmm... Well, I know that I have Aura Burst and Aura Garment... I also know how to use Own Tempo..." I replied.

Suke put on a bright smile. "You really seem to be as strong as they say! How about a little match after this lunch? Let's make it a part of the date!"

"Well, I have nothing against a spar but right now I'm actually pretty useless. I had to take some medicine so I couldn't use any moves for another day," I explained in an embarrassed tone.

"Oh, really?" He questioned with a strange glint in his eyes. Suke's happy attitude was like blown away all of a sudden while the Dewott reached under his coat for some reason.

...

"Uhm... What are-" Before I could ask what was wrong, the front door suddenly slammed open and a familiar voice rang through the restaurant.

"RI!" Cobal was standing in the door frame, panting hard while his eyes focused on the Pokemon next to me.

When I looked at Suke again to see what could be the reason for this, I noticed that the water-type had an angry look on his face and that his hand placed on the grip of his sheathed tanto sword. 'What the hell?'

"You're one of the Seekers of Peace..." the Lucario that had just entered the room said with gritted teeth.

Before anyone could react, Cobal suddenly vanished and only left stirred up dust at the spot he had just been standing on. He reappeared right in front of the Dewott, slamming his fist straight into the water-type's face. The Pokemon was launched off his seat and flew straight into the wall to my left, breaking right through it and out of the building.

My now widened eyes moved onto my partner who was glaring at the hole in the wall he just created. Every Pokemon in the restaurant seemed to be in shock as not even one person managed to raise their voice. Everyone's eyes were locked on the Lucario that slowly wandered towards the opening while he drew his sword and brought his left hand under his scarf.

With a white shockwave of aura, my partner changed into his mega-evolved form and jumped after the Pokemon he had just slammed through a wall.

After I could finally think straight again, my first reaction to all of this was a half whispered sentence... "What the fuck?"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 37**

* * *

_Evil cliffhanger?  
_

**_On the next Chapter:_**

_"Zantetsuken!"_

_"C-cobal you... Your..."_

_Ri... I think I have a little problem here... There's a Darkrai blocking my way and it knows about our mental-link._

_..._

_Does that last one raise your interest? *evil smirk* I bet someone's scared for their OC... *even more evil smirk*  
_

_..._

**_Technique-Submission:  
_**

_What I've already got: _

Aura Armor - by Lani Carmine

Conduit - by Lani Carmine

Cross Blast - by bk42bk42

Draconic Bone Blitz - by bk42bk42

Scatter Flash - by bk42bk42

Guardian Field - by Flameuser64

_..._

_If you have an awesome move or combo that you always wanted to see in a battle, you now have the chance to get it in the form of me using it for one of the fighting-scenes in my stories._

_Got a technique for a fire-type like Ozu, electric-type like Riley, fairy-type like Wigglytuff? __You might even end up submitting a technique that's awesome enough for me to actually give it to Ri!  
_

_**Just send me a PM with the following points if you want to submit a technique:**_

* * *

Move(s) your technique stems from: (Bone Rush, Bone Rush and Extremespeed,...)

Name of your technique:

Technique - Physical/Special - ()-Type

Description of how the technique works:

Optional - Backstory on how it was created:

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	38. A maiden in distress?

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Mad._

_That's pretty much the only thing I've been in this military programm... _

_First of all... The training._

_ Wearing a long-sleeved uniform in the summer is great! Wearing long wool-socks when it has 40 degrees outside is great! Sweating so much that you're literally soaked is great! Walking 10 kilometers with a 15kg backpack and a 4.1kg assault-rifle (You have to memorize every detail about that damn thing) is __great! Sleeping in 50 year old baracks with millions of mosquitos inside is great! Crawling in the dirt all day is great! Eating out of an aluminium "plate" that was probably used in WW2 is great! _

_Actually... No, it's not. God dammit..._

_Secondly... The glorious internet-connection problem I'm having here._

_I'm able to write my story on my IPhone but in order for that to work I'd need signal... Which I simply don't have here. (There have to be signal-jammers scattered around the whole damn base.) And even when I somehow get into a tiny spot where my phone picks up a bit of signal, I mostly only have 5 minutes to check on it._

_What this means is that I barely got 100 words of progress per day. Either because motivation was lacking or because the internet-connection broke up and all my progress was lost. _

_I do get home at weekends though... Problem here is that I'm completely mad from all the stupid shit I had to do all week. Friday, sleep, saturday, alcohol poisoning, sunday, sleep._

_Oh! And __the screen of my laptop is broken! Meaning that I can only write on my phone at home as well. Hurray!_

_Anyway... I think this should explain why there hasn't been any updates for so long._

_Only recently we gained new functions at the military-base. (kitchen, driver, writer, guard, etc.)_

_I'm one of the lucky guys who got a writer-post. Which means that I'm sitting in an office all day and do chores for my superiors. Although I don't have any signal there either, my new job still managed to get me motivated enough to increase my progress. Less madness because I don't have to crawl in the dirt anymore._

_So after that long explanation on what's been going on in this author/soldier's life, here's the next chapter!  
_

* * *

**Chapter 38 - A maiden in distress?**

* * *

"Holy Arceus, what was that?"

"Who was that?!"

"Did that Lucario just punch that Dewott through the wall, or am I seeing things?"

"I JUST REDECORATED THIS PLACE!"

A huge tumult formed inside the restaurant, some Pokemon panicking and running out of the building while others just stood there with their eyes locked onto the hole in the wall. And right in the middle of all of this, was me, still shocked by what had just happened.

'What the fuck just happened? D-did Suke just try to pull his sword on me? Why did Cobal... I... I have to go after them!' With that thought, I immediately got out of my chair and rushed after Suke and my partner. Some of the Pokemon that were still inside called after the me but I ignored them and jumped out of the building.

**~ BGM: Confront Battle - Sword Art Online (Extended) (Start at 0:24)  
**

Outside, I landed on a patch of grass and found myself before the treeline that bordered Nagi Village from the surrounding jungle. Cobal was standing in front of me, his eyes locked onto Suke, who had been thrown into a tree and was now sitting on the grassy floor before it, rubbing his cheek with his paw.

"Ouch... That one hurt," the Dewott muttered.

"Cobal! What's going on? Why did you hit him?!" I yelled at the mega-evolved Lucario in front of me.

"This Pokemon is part of an organisation who call themselves the Seekers of Peace," he replied in a serious tone.

"Seekers of Peace?" I repeated, a slight pain appearing in my head. It did sound familiar but wasn't enough to trigger another memory.

"Don't let yourself get fooled by that name. It is a group of extremely strong Pokemon that wants to overthrow every nation on the planet to create one single goverment under their control. They tried to take over Alteal multiple times in the past," Cobal explained.

'Like getting world domination?' This didn't really answer my question on why Suke was supposed to be one of them. "But how do you know he's part of them?" I asked, still startled by the way he hit the coat-wearing water-type.

His eyes focused on Suke, who was slowly getting back onto his feet. "It's his aura... Do you remember the criminal organisation that terrorised Alteal I told you about? I sensed this Dewott's aura at two of the major raids the royal guard made against these outlaws. Their criminal activities acted as a distraction so that the Seekers of Peace could obtain a dangerous weapon without anyone noticing. This Pokemon was most likely the contact person between the Peace Seekers and the outlaws."

"Oi! What did you do that for?! I'm not a part of whatever organisation you think I am!" Suke yelled, drawing our attention onto him. The Dewott was back on his feet and glared at my partner.

"Don't play dumb on me... I know that you're one of them. You're even wearing the black coat," Cobal responded.

The water-type closed his eyes and sighed. "These special coats already give us away, huh? We should change the color sometime..."

"So it's true?!" I asked Suke in response.

He opened his eyes again and faced Cobal with a somewhat bored expression, completely ignoring my question. "Cobal? Right? It's nice to meet you and all but you kind of ruined our date just now..."

"Date?" The Lucario raised an eyebrow and gave me a surprised look. I also noticed a glint of disappointment in his eyes.

"Err... I was hungry?" I answered, rubbing the back of my head while a nervous smile wandered onto my face.

Suke cleared his throat, regaining our attention. "Listen, I'm not here to get into any trouble with the royal family. My mission is to capture the Spirit of Faith and take her with me to our headquarters."

A shocked look wandered onto my face. "You want to kidnap me?!"

"My boss wants to have a little chat with you but he'd rather stay incognito. He also doesn't want you to know about the location of our headquarters so kidnapping you is the best option here," he replied.

"How did you know she's on Treasure?" Cobal threw in with a serious voice.

"Hmm... Let's just say that we have very good connections." The Dewott smirked. "Do you know how easy it is to catch off letters to the capital city?"

My mega-evolved partner grit his teeth. "Bastard... You even have a spy in the great mail-office?"

'I see... Somebody from the Lucario Tribe or Treasure Town must've sent a letter to Alteal... That's how they found out about me.'

Suke shrugged. "Maybe... Maybe not. It's also very easy to capture bird messengers, you know. That I found her right after I arrived at Treasure was pure luck though..."

"What does your boss want with me?" I questioned, stepping next to my partner.

"I have no idea... Capturing you has always been a major goal for us. The boss knows you from somewhere but he never really told us from where," the water-type answered.

"Y-your boss knows me in person?" I said, not really able to believe what I was hearing. 'If... If his boss knows me in person then... Then I could finally find out who I really am!'

The Pokemon in front of seemed to have noticed my surprised reaction and gave me a smirk. "Oh, now this is interesting! Your little memory-loss problem gives me an advantage here... Tell you what, if you tell your friend to piss off so I can take you with me without causing a huge uproar in this little town behind you, I might tell you your real name right now."

"My real name," I muttered to myself with wide open eyes. 'If I go with him then-' I was just about to actually debate about his offer but was interrupted when Cobal rose his voice again.

"I'm sorry, Ri but there's no way I'm letting you go with this Pokemon. What if he's lying and it's a trap? What if his boss wants to use you for another plan to overthrow Alteal? Not only would you be in danger, Alteal itself would be in danger as well." The Mega Lucario glared at the Dewott in front of us. "I also have a personal grudge against this organisation..."

"But if his boss knows me then-" I tried to say but the Lucario interrupted me again.

"I am not losing another friend to the Peace Seekers!" he shouted at me with a dead-serious look on his face.

I gasped at this and stared at him for a moment. 'Losing another friend to the Peace Seekers? A friend of his died because of that organisation?'

"Ri... I'm not planning to go after this Pokemon with killing intent. We're going to capture him and interrogate him afterwards," Cobal continued.

A smile wandered onto my face while I went over his plan in my head. 'That's a good idea... If Suke knows anything about me then we can just ask him after he's captured... Cobal has to tell me more about what happened with that criminal organisation back at Alteal after this. Ugh... There's a little problem though.' I let out a growl while my gaze moved onto the ground. "Sorry, but I don't think I can help you much in this fight... Peon gave me a potion that will regenerate my aura faster... The downside is that I can't use any moves for a day."

"Hmm... I already thought that the slow flow of your aura was a little weird... Well, I'd rather have an one on one battle with him anyway. He's using a weapon as well so it's a good way to see how far I've come with my sword-skills." He faced Suke with a determined expression. "Stay back and calm down the Pokemon at the restaurant... I'll handle this."

Although I didn't like that I now had to calm down a group of rampaging Pokemon, I knew that I would only get in the way if I joined this battle. When I turned around and looked at hole on the back of Gourmet Lickitung's, I noticed that several Pokemon had already gathered around it, looking at us from inside.

"Would you look at that, we already have an audience... I think it's time for me to go, I don't want to get my ears full for killing innocent civilians," Suke suddenly said to himself before he turned towards the forest behind him.

**~ Stop music**

'What?! He's just running away?'

"No, you don't!" Cobal yelled, vanishing and only leaving stirred up dust in his place. He reappeared right in front of the retreating Pokemon and threw his sword at him. The Dewott next movements were too fast for me to follow but he must've turned around and pulled out his sword in backward grip to counter my partner's assault as he was now blocking Cobal's weapon with his unsheathed tanto sword.

My eyes widened. 'This Dewott is fast! That... That looked just like Extremespeed... Is a Dewott even able to learn the move? He must've trained to perfectly control his energy to pull it off.'

"They're seriously fighting!"

"What about the other Lucario with the strange arm?!"

"Isn't that the Spirit of Faith? What is it doing here?"

"WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR MY WALL?!"

The group of uproaring Pokemon behind me were distracting me a bit while Cobal and Suke continued their fight, the Mega Lucario throwing sword-slashes at the water-type, who blocked them and retreated further and further into the forest with consequent backsteps.

'God dammit, Cobal said that I should stay behind but what if he gets into trouble?' My eager martial-artist side decided to join the feeling of concern I felt for my partner. 'I'd also miss out on that epic battle! All the techniques I wouldn't see... Sorry, Cobal... But I just have to see this!' Seeing that they slowly moved out of my view, I ran after the fighting Pokemon but kept a bit of distance so that I wouldn't get in the way. The uproaring group of Pokemon that had been in the restaurant, luckily didn't follow us.

The shockwaves that were created whenever their weapons connected, were strong enough to send cuts into the the surrounding trees, some even felling them completely.

This continued for probably a whole minute... The three of us had run a pretty good distance, when one final attack from Cobal pushed Suke several meters away from the knight. They stopped for a moment as the Dewott spoke up again. "I think that's far enough... Ready to get serious?"

My partner nodded to this and returned to his classic-stance, a casual posture with a slightly turned upper body and his sword pointing towards the ground.

**~ BGM: Sound Stripped Bell - Bravely Second (Extended)**

The Dewott responded by kneeling down a bit and completely opening the zipper on his black coat, revealing a black vest underneath it. "Blood Acceleration," Suke said, his eyes suddenly turning red. A cloud of steam came out of his mouth when he exhaled again, making his already ominous look even scarier. After he brought his tanto sword up to his mouth and stowed the sheath back under his coat, he quickly picked up his razor shells from his thighs and go into a battle-stance.

'Blood Acceleration?' A sudden headache caused my eyes to shut tight while a memory in the form of muffled voices echoed through my mind.

_"It's a dangerous technique but if that's what it takes to beat you, then so be it!"_

_"Water-types can control the water inside their bodies. Blood is a liquid too so I guess from knowing that you now also know what this technique is all about. He's pumping his blood through his veins to increase his physical capabilities."_

_"But wouldn't that put a lot of strain on his veins and heart?"_

_"Yes... Keeping it up for too long can cause a heart-attack. He's also permanently damaging his veins by using it."_

Back in reality I was clutching my aching head until the pain faded. 'Ugh... Another memory...' I couldn't think closer about what I had just heard as the fight in front of me continued.

Suke dashed forward and jumped at Cobal, spinning his body around while he held out his razor shells. Sparks were flying through the air when my partner's sword connected with the Dewott's weapons. The Mega Lucario didn't even struggle while he blocked Suke's attack. Suke landed on the grassy floor underneath him before he went for another assault. He tried to break through the fighting-type's defense with repeated attacks with his blades and even put the tanto in his mouth into some of his combos, however, not a single one of them even managed to give my partner trouble.

After yet another unsuccsessful attack, Cobal seemed to have enough and concentrated on Extremespeed to throw his fist one of the Dewott's openings.

It slammed right into Suke's face and pushed him back a few feet. The Peace Seeker managed to land on his feet and slid on the ground until he regained his balance. He suddenly vanished and reappeared behind my partner, preparing another attack with his blades.

As he was now using Extremespeed in his next assault, the water-type actually managed to exploit an opening in Cobal's offensive stance, causing the knight's eyes to widen while he turned around in an attempt to bring his sword back up.

Suke interrupted my partner's block with a quick headbutt that left the mega-evolved Pokemon completely defenseless to his follow-up attack. The water-type spun around, slashing at Cobal's front once with each of his weapons. My partner's steel-like skin luckily wasn't affected by the two sharpened shells, but Suke's tanto sword managed to break through it and left a cut on Cobal's chest.

A small splash of blood landed on the floor while the Lucario backstepped with Extremespeed and Suke returned to his battle-stance.

Cobal's eyes were wide open and locked on the water-type in front of him. He was gritting his teeth and clutched the bleeding wound under his chest-spike with his free paw.

"Too fast for you if I attack you with my full speed, huh?" Suke called, for some reason now able to speak proberly with the sword between his teeth.

The fighting-type growled in response and focused a huge amount of aura around him, dust from the ground floating into the air. He dashed forward and threw his weapon at the Dewott, the aura from his aura-flaring arm speading onto the blade. Suke evaded the slashes by using Extremespeed, causing Cobal's glowing sword to swing harmlessly through the air and to leave a trail of blue particles of aura behind with every slash.

"Sacred Sword, really? Does the black coat make you think I'm a dark-type or what?" the water-type responded, steam coming from his mouth with every word while he easily dodged Cobal's attacks.

"Hey! Want to give my coat a little closer look?" Suke evaded one last stab from Cobal before he suddenly jumped at my partner and flung the end of his coat in front of the Mega Lucario's face, temporarly stunning him with the visual feint.

The Peace Seeker then threw his right shell into the air, dug his right foot into the ground and held his right hand out behind him. A compressed sphere of water quickly formed in his palm before he launched the move I recognized as Water Pulse into the fighting-type's stomach.

My eyes widened when a huge torrent of water errupted from the ball of liquid, the pressure behind it high enough to shoot Cobal into one of the trees behind him. Suke then caught his razor shell by simply holding his hand behind his body again and got back into his stance.

The now completely soaked Mega Lucario got back onto his feet and glared at the Peace Seeker but immediately had to put his guard up again when Suke dashed towards him for another attack. Cobal managed to step out of the way, causing the water-type to run straight into the tree that had been behind the fighting-type. Suke simply brought his feet against the tree and ran up a few steps before he pushed himself away from it and into the air above my partner.

In midair, he quickly threw one of his razor shells at the Mega Lucario who diverted the rotating disc with his sword, several sparks flying through the air upon impact. At the same time Cobal was distracted by the dust of glowing metal leftovers, Suke focused on another Water Pulse and used it to shoot himself at his opponent in a similar way I had done it back at Fogbound Lake in my first fight with Uxie's illusion. Maybe it was just a coincidence but the move had been a combination of one of my strategies for when a direct approach wouldn't work and one of my techniques for Force Palm.

This enabled the Peace Seeker to get yet another chance for a direct hit, which he immediately used by slashing at Cobal's face with the tanto between his teeth. The attack left a cut on the Mega Lucario's cheek and a small splash of blood on the forest-floor while the coat-wearing Pokemon flew past my partner and landed on the ground.

He quickly turned around to faced my partner once more, however, the only thing he was able to see was Cobal's rapidly approaching blade. Suke barely managed to evade the stab by moving his head out of the way and quickly backstepped to get some distance.

But the knight didn't let him have any distance as he ran after the water-type and lunged at Suke with a barrage of blindingly fast stabs.

The Dewott was able to dodge most of them with the use of Extremespeed but when some of Cobal's attacks grazed him and left several cuts on his body and clothing, he jumped to his right with a dive-roll.

Cobal stopped his assault and let the Peace Seeker regain his balance while he got back into his usual stance.

Suke was now slightly panting and held a cut on his side with his free hand. Although the cuts were only small, they were bleeding a lot. Blood was gushing out of the openings on his body, tainting his black coat with big, red stains.

'He's bleeding way too much... His blood pressure must be dangerously high because of the Blood Acceleration. Suke's not going to be able to keep this up for very much longer.'

The Dewott cursed to himself before he tensed up and focused his gaze on Cobal. Using Extremespeed, he vanished and only left stirred up dust on the spot he has been standing on.

Suke's razor shell that had been stuck in the ground a few feet away from my partner suddenly disappeared as well as more dust was thrown into the air.

He reappeared right in front of the Lucario and prepeared another triple slash with each of his weapons but now that Cobal knew the movements, he was able to react accordingly and parried Suke's attack with a powerful swipe.

Suke's weapons were thrown out of the way while he was spun around a bit and his side completely opened itself for my partner's next attack. The fighting-type used the momentum from the counter and pushed his left leg into his opponents body, a few cracking noises audible as Cobal's limb forced itself into the water-type's side.

With a small shockwave that was created from the kick, the Peace Seeker was thrown back several meters and slid on the ground until his body came to a halt.

Cobal returned to his stance and watched the Dewott closely while he struggled to get up again.

"Ouch... That one broke a rib, that's for sure," Suke called out loud while he lifted himself back onto his feet and smiled. "Hahaha, I guess that can happen when your opponent happens to be a mega-evolved-" He suddenly stopped there and his whole body seemed to freeze up. The water-type's eyes widened and his weapons fell out of his hands and mouth. Suke stumbled one step forward, clutching his chest with his paws while a grimace of pain wandered onto his face.

I slowly stepped closer to the two Pokemon, realizing what was the problem. 'It's his heart! He used the technique for too long!'

Suke's eyes flickered between red and their original dark-grey color several times and his panting increased. He then fell to his knees before the rest of his upper body landed on the ground.

**~ Stop music**

"Suke!" I yelled, running up to the water-type. A fear of seeing the Pokemon die because of a heart-attack rose up inside of me. 'I'd never forgive myself if I let someone die when I could've prevented it!'

"Ri?!" my partner called out, stopping me a few feet away from the fallen Pokemon. "Didn't I tell you to stay back at the restaurant?!"

"Forget about that! He's having a heart-attack! With the technique he used, he forcefully pumped his blood through his veins and put a lot strain on his heart!" I explained in distressed tone. "He's going to die if we don't do something!"

Cobal's gaze moved back onto the water-type. "His aura is fluctuating irregurarly, now that you mention it..." The knight hesitantly took a few steps towards the Peace Seeker.

I joined my partner's side and both of us approached the grounded Pokemon who was still clutching his chest and grunted in pain.

"We're going to help you, alright?" I asked, crouching down to inspect the Dewott a little closer.

He whispered something in response but I couldn't understand him because of his irregular breathing. I crouched down even lower and brought my right ear closer to Suke's mouth while Cobal stepped to my right.

...

**~ BGM: Boss Theme (Instrumental) - Persona 5 (Extended)  
**_(Peace Seeker's Battle Theme)_

"Hehe... Fell for it."

The water-type opened his red eyes, causing my own eyes to widen in shock. With one quick motion he pushed my head down into the ground, lifted himself upwards, spun around and sent a kick directly into my partner's face.

A grunt of pain escaped my lips and my eyes shut tight while the Dewott used my head as a springboard. 'That bastard!'

It took me a moment to regain my senses as the impact with the floor had most likely left me with a light concussion. I was able to hear more sounds of a battle while I slowly rose my body up and opened my eyes again. The blurry sight of Cobal, slashing at Suke with his sword, entered my view when I turned into the direction of the noises. The Peace Seeker had picked up all of his weapons when my vision had been black and was now blocking the mega-evolved Lucario's attacks by diverting them with his shells. I noticed a new cut on my partner's shoulder that was probably a result of Suke's last bluff.

A growl left my mouth when I got back onto my feet and focused my gaze onto the Dewott. 'His fighting-style is heavily based on feints and bluffs to get through his opponent's defense... I should warn Cobal when I see that he's up to something again.'

The Dewott backstepped a couple of meters with Extremespeed after dodging another slash from Cobal and focused a lot of energy around him. Wind began to whirl around him before he rapidly slashed into the air in front of him. Blades made of condensed wind formed in front of the Peace Seeker with every swing and lauched themselves at Cobal. I recognized the move as Air Slash but the way he turned it into a rapid-fire version brought a surprised expression onto my face.

My partner dashed forward in response and blocked the attacks by simply cutting the wind projectiles in two. He stopped right in front of the Dewott and tightened the grip on his sword before he spun around and attacked the water-type with a spinning attack. However, Suke managed to evade any damage by ducking under Cobal's blade and immediately went for a counter by slamming into the Mega Lucario with his shoulder.

He then pushed his right razor shell straight into the open cut on Cobal's chest and twisted the weapon, causing the fighting-type to scream out in pain. My partner immediately backstepped with Extremespeed, a great amount of blood splashing on the ground when Suke's shell left the wound.

This seemed to aggrovate the Mega Lucario. The long, red-tipped aura sensors on the back of his head levitated into the air and his pupils shrunk in size while an ominous aura began to radiate around him.

He threw himself at the Dewott and attacked him with a full powered slash. The force behind his sword was strong enough to easily break through Suke's guard and caused the water-type to be pushed back a bit. Cobal continued his assault with another strike that cut right into his opponent's shoulder. The Peace Seeker grunted in pain as the cloth from his black coat and more blood shot into the air.

Suke regained some distance with a backflip and attached his razor shells back onto his thighs. He slammed both of his paws onto the ground and smirked at my partner. A huge amount of water suddenly errupted in front of him and turned into a massive wave that occupied my vision on the water-type. The torrent grew in size and quickly approached Cobal, who growled in response and readied his sword.

With one powerful slash, he sent a shockwave at the Surf attack and cut the giant wave in two... Sending half of the attack into my direction.

"Fuck!" It was already to late when I turned around and tried to run away from the incoming mass of water.

After only a couple of meters of running with gritted teeth and wide open eyes, the wave soaked my fur and engulfed my entire body.

Everything turned black, cold and wet while I was lifted off my feet and swept away. My body bumped into several trees before my head made a rather unpleasant contact with yet another obstacle and I lost consciouness.

**~ Stop music**

...

...

...

I immediately jerked into a sitting position and my eyes shot open when I woke up again. A couple of coughs escaped my mouth, freeing my throat of some of the water I had swallowed. I inspected my surroundings and saw that I was still in the forest, however, Suke's Surf had completely overswept the area and ripped several trees out of their roots. The forest floor was littered with puddles of water and debris that had been ripped along with the wave.

"Ugh..." Bringing my paw up to the back of my head where I found a pretty big bump, I slowly got back onto my feet and tried to orientate myself. There was not a trace of Cobal and Suke and I had no idea how far the wave had actually carried me away.

'Dammit, how long was I out? I have to find them somehow...' Just then I heard the sound of an explosion in the distance. Turning towards the noise's direction, I stared depper into the flooded forest until a strong gust of wind almost lifted me off my feet. 'What the hell?' I held my arms up to shield my eyes. 'An explosion? That shockwave was huge... What...? Was that an Aura Sphere from Cobal? Considering that he's in his mega-form... Just how much power do you get from it?' I was speculating on what kind of power I would get from mega-evolving for a moment but shook my head when I caught myself drifting off. 'Focus... That explosion can only mean that they're still fighting. I have to find them.'

Although my body felt sore from all the trees I had bumped into, I ignored the pain and ran towards the recent explosion.

I noticed several signs of a battle while I made my way through the forest. Cut down trees and bushes, holes in the ground, more puddles of water which most likely came from more of Suke's water attacks and clouds of stirred up dust.

After running for a few minutes, more sounds of a fight echoed through the woods. Although I was already completely exhausted and panting, knowing that I was almost at my goal kept me going.

I soon made my way onto a clearing and then I saw them.

To my left was a panting Lucario in his normal form who was covered in cuts, bruises and blood. His armor was battered and his blue scarf was completely torn apart. He was barely holding onto the weapon in his right paw.

To my right was a Dewott in the same horrible condition. His coat had turned into a tattered, black piece of cloth that hang down his shoulders. The vest underneath it was equally damaged and I noticed that both of his razor shells were missing. The water-type was holding his tanto sword in his right hand instead of his carrying it with his teeth.

Several signs of a fight were scattered across the area. Water-filled craters, clouds of stirred up dust, blood-stained grass and a lot of cuts in the ground.

'Cobal has lost his mega-form?! Does it have a time-limit or did Suke manage to beat him out of it?' I was almost drifting off and beginning to speculate more about Mega Evolution but quickly shook my head again and focused on what was going on in front of me.

"Cobal!" I called out to my partner, causing both Pokemon to look at me.

"Ri... You're okay," the Lucario responded, a expression of relief appearing on his blood-covered face.

"Look who's decided to come back to the party," Suke said with an obviously forced smirk before he faced his opponent again. "See? I told you it'd take more than a Surf to kill the Spirit of Faith."

The fighting-type ignored him and kept looking at me. "I'm sorry... It was my fault that you were hit by that Surf..." He grit his teeth and broke eye-contact. "I failed again... Failed to protect a friend because I let my anger disturb my focus."

"Stop..." I couldn't bare to see any more fighting when I noticed the expression of guilt on the Lucario's face and that the two badly injured Pokemon were at their limit. "Both of you! Stop! Please!"

They didn't respond at first but after a short moment of silence, Suke spoke up again. "I can only stop if you come with me on free terms... There's a rule in our organisation, you know... The success of my mission is more important than my life."

I processed this for a moment before my shot open from anger. "Fuck your organisation! How can your boss value the success of a mission more than your lifes? Can't you see that you're going to bleed out if you keep going?!"

The Dewott responded with a grimm look. "Listen... I've been taught that the most important thing is to accomplish my objectives since the day I was born. If you're trying to change me simply by cursing at me... Well... Then fuck you too."

Gritting my teeth, I turned to my partner. "Cobal... You don't have to keep going... Please, stop this..."

"Sorry, but I don't intend to stop either... I won't let him get away," he replied, a forced smile wandering onto his face. "And what kind of knight would I be if I failed to protect my comrades?"

"I don't want to be protected! I absolutely hate that I'm not able to fight on my own right now! Please, you don't have to keep fighting just to protect me," I responded in an angry tone.

"It's not only because I'm fighting to protect you." A grin formed on his lips. "This guy has pushed me to my limit, meaning that he's on my list now." The Lucario coughed up a bit of blood but kept up his grin. "I'm going to beat him and get beyond my limit... That's how I get stronger."

"Cobal..." At that moment I realized that this fight had turned into something completely different. My partner wasn't just pushing through his exhaustion to protect me or to catch the criminal in front of him... No, he was fighting to follow his dream... To become the strongest there is. Knowing this put the desire to stop the two Pokemon aside.

"Hey, Peace Seeker..." the Lucario called over to the Dewott, who tensed up in response. "Let's see who really is the better swordsman... The next attack decides who wins this battle."

"One final attack to decide who has the better technique, reflexes and skill... I like that idea," Suke replied, smirking as well. He took one deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "Blood Acceleration," the water-type said, opening his now red eyes again as the amount of blood that poured out of his wounds increased.

Both fighters stared into each other's eyes while they readied their swords. Cobal kneeled down a bit, putting his sword back into the holster on his belt.

My eyes widened when I recognized the stance and understood what technique he would use to end this. 'Zantetsuken...'

When Suke did exactly the same thing, only difference being that he put his tanto back into its sheath and brought it near his left hip, a surprised look wandered onto my face. 'He too?!'

Then there was silence.

I could literally feel their focus and the tension between each other while I waited for them to make a move.

A single breeze flew through the clearing, causing the grass and the surrounding tree's leaves to rustle.

**Cling!**

With a loud scraping noise, Cobal and Suke vanished for not even a split second and reappeared on the place the other one had stood at, their swords held out to their right sides.

The wind settled and after another short moment of silence...

"Zantetsuken!" they shouted in union as blood shot into the air from each Pokemon's bodies.

"Cobal!" I screamed at my partner who still stood his ground and didn't move an inch. The Dewott behind him did the same and stood still as well. Both fighters had their heads lowered, hiding their eyes from me.

This was a literal stand-off... The first one to fall would lose this battle. Interfering didn't feel right to me so I just shut my mouth and watched.

After yet another moment of silence that felt like an eternity, Suke's voice echoed through the clearing.

"Dammit..." the water-type said with a weak voice before his body leaned forward and he fell onto the ground.

My eyes were stuck on the hopefully only unconscious Dewott until a noise from Cobal brought my attention back to my partner. The Lucario had fallen to his knees and was holding his body up with his sword that he had pushed into the ground. He was panting hard and seemed barely able to hold himself up as his whole body has shaking.

I ran over the blood stained clearing as fast as I could and kneeled down next to the injured knight. "Are you alright-"

A gasp escaped my lips and my paw moved above my mouth when I was able to see his face properly again.

"C-Cobal... Y-you... Your..." I was barely able to speak because of the gruesome sight of a bloody cut that was running down the left side of his face, right across his closed left eye. "Your eye..."

"I know..." he managed to reply in a whisper between his panting.

"We have to get back to the village!" I called out in a distressed tone as I inspected his other wounds. His whole body was covered in red cuts, bruises and blood-stains. The little pieces that were still left of his armor and scarf were tattered and dirty.

Even though his expression was a grimace of pain, I noticed a faint smile on the Lucario's face. "You've been a worthy opponent," he said to the Pokemon behind us before he slowly leaned forward and lost the grip on his sword.

"Cobal!" I caught his body with my arms and stared at him with wide open eyes for a moment. He was still breathing and only unconscious but a slight feeling of panic was coming over me nevertheless as the warm blood from his wounds slowly ran onto my body. 'Is this how my friends felt when I lost consciousness after a battle? This is horrible... I have to do something!'

There was a little problem through... I still had another injured Pokemon behind me so I turned around to-

My eyes widened when I saw that Suke was gone and only a small pool of blood was left on the floor. "What the hell?" I hectically looked around the clearing scanning it for any signs of the Dewott but couldn't find anything.

'He's gone! How can he still walk after something like this, yet alone disappear without me noticing anything?!' An uneasy feeling was added to my already current panic but the unconscious Lucario in my arms didn't give me any time to think about this and pulled my full attention onto him. 'Peon is still at the inn! If she was able to heal me then she should be able to heal him too... I have to get there, fast!'

I quickly pulled Cobal's sword out of the ground and put it back into the holster on his belt, careful not to accidentally cut him with the sharp blade. Some of the pouches in his belt had holes in them or were ripped apart, meaning that most of his equipment was now scattered on the ground. The Time Gear was luckily not a part of it. I was debating on picking everything up but decided against it because I knew that my partner was losing blood and that every minute counted.

Due to the potion I drank earlier this day, picking my injured friend up and putting him on my back to piggyback him turned out to be quite the struggle. 'Dammit, he's heavy!' His steel bones were a lot heavier than expected. 'Don't tell me I weigh that much too...'

My gaze moved back onto the opening in the treeline at the edge of the devastated clearing. 'I should be able to get back to the village if I follow the path of destruction.' I grit my teeth when I felt more of Cobal's blood, slowly running down my back.

"Don't you dare and die on me!" I yelled at the unconscious Pokemon on my back as I began to run into the half-destroyed forest.

After passing only a couple of trees, I already began to turn exhausted. The Lucario on my back was getting heavier with every step and my breathing almost turned into panting. While I struggled to make my way over fallen trees and holes in the ground, I was constantly cursing out loud at my pathetic endurance and strength... My ranting then shifted onto Peon and her stupid medicine.

_Whoa! Watch your language!_

My thoughts were interruped by the somewhat shocked voice of Celsius.

'Oh! Sorry, Celsius... I'm kinda busy right now,' I replied, jumping over a cut down log. 'Cobal is hurt and I'm carrying him to a healer who can help him... Ugh... Dammit, I'm out of breath...'

_Huh? Did you get into another-_

_W-wait! The cursing... You being out of breath... D-don't tell me... Oh! My! God! You had your way with the knight and broke his hip while doing it?!_

"What?! No! God fucking dammit, Celsius! This is serious!" I snapped out loud, my face turning red from her inappropriate implication. At the back of my mind I was actually imagining how this scene might have looked like but quickly shook my head and pushed the thoughts away.

_Hahaha, sorry! Forget it and tell me what's going on._

A sigh left my mouth. 'Apparently some organisation from Alteal is trying to kidnap me... Cobal saved me from one their members but got hurt pretty badly in the fight.' I reached the area which was still completely soaked and half-flooded from Suke's Surf. The ground was soft and rather hard to traverse with Cobal on my back. 'I think it'd be better if you came to Nagi Village... Cobal looks pretty bad and I have no idea how long we'll have to stay here.'

_You just can't get a break, huh? Alright, Ri... It's at the eastern border of the Southern Jungle, right? I'll look for it on my Wonder Map and head there as fast as I can._

'Thanks... I gotta hurry up or Cobal might not make it. I'll contact you again after I brought him to the healer!'

_Right... I'll hear you later... Oh! And don't you dare and let my shining knight die!_

'I won't,' I answered in a dead-serious tone, pushing through my exhaustion and increasing my pace.

...

After some more running through the forest, I suddenly heard a faint voice behind me. "... Niobi... Don't..."

"Niobi? Cobal, what are you-" When I turned my head to see what was going on with my partner, I met the sight of a still unconscious Pokemon that muttered to himself. 'Who is he talking to? Is he dreaming or something?'

"... Don't go... Niobi..." I could only wonder who this Niobi was while I continued my way back to the village.

What felt like half and hour of stumbling through the woods with the injured Lucario on my back, I finally saw the first buildings of Nagi Village. The position of the sun indicated that it was most likely around 4 to 5 in the noon.

Running through the opening between two of the buildings in front of me, I quickly made my way back to the main road of the town. My gaze hectically swayed around the different houses until I found what I was looking for. Teky's Inn was the building right next to me so I immediately ran to the front door, ignoring anyone that could've noticed the blood-covered Pokemon I was carrying.

"Where's Peon?!" I shouted while I busted through the front door, completely exhausted and covered in sweat.

The Buizel that was standing behind the recepetion jumped to my sudden intrusion. "Whoa! What's wro-" Teky's eyes widened when he noticed the red liquid on us.

"U-upstairs!" he stuttered, pointing at the staircase to my right. "Her room is the third one on the left side."

I hurried up into the first floor of the building, stopping in front of Peon's room.

"Peon!" I shouted, opening her door by slamming into it.

"Whoa!" The normal-type almost fell out of the chair she had been sitting on and got onto her feet while I stepped into the room.

"What is it?" She gave me a confused look until she noticed what I was carrying.

"Dear Arceus! What happened? Are you hurt too?" the normal-type asked, inspecting my blood-covered body.

"No... It's his blood, I'm fine. We ran into-" I couldn't talk any further as Peon interrupted me.

"Forget it, you can tell me later. Quick, put him on that bed and get his gear off!" she intsructed, already running to a small box that was placed on a table to my right.

I did as told and placed the unconscious Lucario onto the bed before I carefully removed the remainings of his completely tattered scarf and armor. After that I took off his belt and took one step away from him as Peon ran up to my partner with several medical supplies in her arms.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked with a look of concern.

The green-eyed Audino placed the supplies onto the nightstand that stood next to the bed and faced me with a serious expression while she brought her hand up to the Mega Stone on her necklace. "He's not gonna die on my watch, that's for sure," she said as a shell of white aura surrounded her. With a loud cracking noise, the white energy busted into the air and revealed her mega-evolved form.

"Would you kindly wait outside? I need to concentrate. I'll let you know when I'm finished," the Mega Audino continued before she turned to my partner.

I hesitantly left the room with Cobal's gear in my paws, giving the Lucario one last glance while Peon began to heal his injuries.

I closed the wooden door and turned around to face it again, putting my head against it while I let out a sigh. 'Please, be okay...'

"What happened?" Teky's voice caused me to raise my head again to face the water-type. The Buizel was now standing next to me and had a concerned look on his face "I heard that has been some kind of fight at Lickitung's Gourmet. Was that you?"

"Uhm..." A sad expression wandered onto my face while I began to explain what had happened. Meeting Suke after leaving the inn, going to Lickitung's Gourmet with him, Cobal storming into the building and punching the Dewott straight in the face...

I then came to the part where my partner revealed that Suke was a Peace Seeker, putting a confused look on Teky's face.

After a somewhat tedious explanation of my "Spirit of Faith situation" and a rather long moment where I had a speechless Buizel in front of me, I finished my answer with some details of the recent fight.

The water-type seemed to be equally shocked like I had been when I told him that Suke had just disappeared after the battle.

There was something bugging me at the back of my head during out conversation though. For some reason the Buizel seemed awfully familiar all of a sudden... But I decided to brush the strange feeling away as I had more concerning things on my mind at the moment.

"I see..." The water-type responded after telling him how I rushed through the forest to get here. "Ehm... You might consider to clean yourself up a bit," he said, hesitantly pointing at the blood that covered my fur. "There's a bathhouse next door, you can wash up there."

A look of distaste appeared on my face when I inspected myself. "Uhm... Thanks. I'll go there after I brought my gear into my room."

"Just tell them that your staying at Teky's Inn and you can bathe there for free... But considering how you look they might let you inside for free anyway," the Buizel replied before he turned around and headed back to the stairs at the end of the hallway.

'Dammit... The way I look like, people must thing I'm a mass murderer or something. Ugh... This is going to be awkward.'

I walked up to the door of my room and pulled out the key from my belt-pouch. After entering the room, I placed Cobal's and my own equipment on the table that was standing next to the door.

My view fell onto my partner's tattered leather-belt. 'He said the Time Gear is in one of his pouches... Should I...?' Letting out a sigh, I decided not to tamper with the artifact. 'Who knows what would happen if I touched it again... I really don't want to end up in another timeline. Dammit, I'm not even sure if that thing at Fogbound Lake was another timeline... I'm already stressed out as it is.'

Placing my paws onto the table to lean on it, I closed my eyes for a moment. 'A bath would be perfect right now... I need some time to relax and clear up my mind.'

I was already imagining the pleasant warmth of the water on my body. A smile wandered onto my face while I opened my eyes again and turned towards the door. When I was just about to leave the room, I was stopped by the sudden voice of Celsius in my head.

_Ri?_

'Oh... Hi, Celsius.' I felt somewhat happier, remembering that I still had the Kirlia if I needed a friend to talk to.

_I think I have a little problem here... There's a Darkrai blocking my way and it knows about our mental-link._

"Darkrai?" That name caused my eyes to widen before a massive headache shot through my brain and my eyes shut tight from pain. Everything around me seemed to fade into the background while visions of another memory entered my view.

_I found myself in a huge cave made out of dark-grey rock. In front of me was some sort of white-glowing gateway. A black sillouette suddenly emerged from the floor between the light and me._

_The figure was covered in black smog that flickered like a TV without signal, however, a pair of green eyes was visible and was giving me a soul-piercing stare._

_The eyes suddenly grew in size and obscured my whole vision while everything around them turned black. _

_"Hahaha!" A madman-like laugh echoed through the darkness, intesifiying the massive headache I was having._

_The eyes disappeared and left me alone with horrified screams that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Several muffled voices rang through my mind while the screams continued._

_"Why did she have to die? Who would do such a thing?"_

_..._

_"He destroyed a whole village and killed a hundred Pokemon just because he thought that it was funny."_

_..._

_"Hahaha! What's the difference between you and the little Azurill that's hiding behind that box over there?"_

_"There's no difference between the two of you... Both of you are going to die."_

_..._

_"This criminal is a sociopath. There's a bounty of 50.000 Poke on his head."_

_..._

_"Now what would happen if a Pokemon would go to the human world?"_

_"What do you-"_

_"Hehehe, I guess you know what I'm getting at. Humans are funny creatures if you think about it. They don't have any special abilities like we do. Just imagine how much fun I could have in a world where nobody is able to stop me!"_

_..._

Back in reality I was holding my aching head with my paws, trying to process the onslaught of information. Whatever the figure in my memory was must've been a Darkrai... And from the random voices that followed afterwards I knew that it was a sociopath that enjoyed to kill Pokemon... Meaning that the Kirlia that had formed a mental-link with me now had a mass murderer in front of her.

"CELSIUS! GET AWAY FROM HIM! RUN!" I shouted out loud.

_W-what? Why?_

"Don't ask! Just get away from him!" I repeated in a dead-serious tone.

_O-okay._

_Huh?_

_The Darkrai just said that sh-_

I grit my teeth. "Celsius! Listen to me! This Pokemon is dangerous!"

_Okay, I'll make a run for-_

Several gasps and yelps from the psychic-type echoed through my mind.

_I-I can't! The Darkrai is too fast! It always vanishes and reappears in front of me when I try to make a run for it!_

'She can't get away. She's going to die if I don't do something... Come on! Think! I have to help her somehow.' An idea formed in my head. "Use Ally Switch and switch with me!"

_Ally Switch? I-I'm not sure if I can do it over a distance like that._

"Try it, anyway!" I snapped through the link.

_What?_

_Tell her? What do you mean-_

She suddenly stopped and a strong feeling of pain, which was most likely sent through our mental-link, washed over me. Everything that followed was silence.

My eyes widened. "Celsius? Celsius?! CELSIIUUS!?"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 38**

* * *

_Whew! I hope you enjoyed it! _

_Pretty awesome fight, right? There were also a lot of memory-shreds in this one... Could it be that 'Ri's' mind is clearing up again? And what about that memory with the green-eyed figure that supposedly is a Darkrai? _

_Oh! And yet another "Tell her"... Any ideas on what the hell is going on here?_

_..._

_Alright, there's one more thing I want to tell you._

_About Chapter 3 and the revision in general... I can be happy if I manage to make any progress at all and I thought that you guys deserved to know how the story goes on rather than new scenes for an old chapter. Number 3 is going to be the next thing to go public, that's for sure... Updating the following chapters... Motivation based... We'll see._

_Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait but the battlefield is calling for duty and the terrorists don't counter-strike themselves. It's back to the "ARMA 3: Military Office Simulator" for me._

_On the next Chapter:_

_'I will gain the ability to time-travel and save my friends from the future.'_

_"Um... Please, tell me... Are you the Riolu with the 10.000 Poke bounty on its head?"_

_"It would be a shame if I didn't exploit this situation... You being tied up in that chair and everything... Completely helpless to anything I might do..."_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	39. Side Chapter - Two new explorers in town

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_What is this? A new update? _

_Yes, there wasn't much to do in the office so I spent a lot of time in the smoking-area (one of the few places where I get signal...) and whiped up a side chapter to introduce some characters that appear in the next chapter._

_Chapter 3 has 11.000 words at the moment... The final product will most likely have around 15.000. _

_Revising old chapter is a lot harder than writing new ones. After reading the same lines for who knows how long, it just gets annoying and you don't really want to continue to work on it._

_Anyway... 2500 words in three days... __I hope you'll enjoy this little chapter!_

* * *

**_Side Chapter - New explorers in town_**

* * *

**3rd POV**

* * *

It was getting evening in the small town called Nagi Village. The sun's light slowly dimmed down, coloring the many rooftops of the town's buildings and treehouses in orange.

A flock of bird-type's was flying over the village when two figures approached the town's entrance, a wooden gate that connected a soiled path with Nagi Village's main road.

One of them was a female Shinx with a purple bandana on her right ear, a yellow and blue striped scarf on her neck and a small pouch on her right front leg that was walking besides a male Pikachu with an oddly deep colored fur.

He was wearing a yellow scarf with red stripes on his left arm and had a ruffled tuft of fur on the black tip of his left ear.

The electric-type scratched the spot under his right eye which had a scar running over it as the two Pokemon passed the gate into the village.

"Um... Is this really Nagi Village?" the Shinx asked timidly, inspecting the many houses that were scattered along the side of the road.

"Did you see any other villages on the Wonder Map in this area, Pyro? Of course it's Nagi Village," the Pikachu answered with a teasing smirk.

Pyro blushed in response and broke eye-contact. "Um... S-sorry, Storm."

"No need to apologize," Storm replied before he gave her a smile. "Come on, let's look for a place to spend the night. We'll start looking for that Riolu tomorrow."

The two were actually a team of explorers on an outlaw mission. Their objective was to capture a particular Riolu with a bounty of 10.000 Poke on its head. They had come across the wanted poster a few days ago and came to Nagi Village because it was close to one of the places that held one of the Time Gears, one of the artifacts the Riolu was said to be after.

"Alright..." The two electric-type's made their way into the center of the town while they kept a lookout for any inns or hotels.

They witnessed a peculiar scene in front of one of the buildings. By the sign over the entrance that said 'Lickitung's Gourmet' they could tell that it was a restaurant. Several Pokemon were crowded up at the front door, rambling about a fight, a Dewott and a Lucario.

Pyro and Storm stopped for a moment and listened to the talking crowd.

"What are we going to do with the destroyed wall, boss?" a male Patrat asked the Lickitung that was standing next to him.

"I don't know... The recent decoration was very expensive and I don't think we can afford to repair it with our current funds." The normal-type folded his arms and looked into the center of the village with a glare. "One of the Pokemon that's responsible for this has to come up for it. I don't care if it's the Dewott or one of those two Lucario... One of them has to pay the repairs."

"I think I've seen the female Lucario with that strange arm a while ago," a female Meowth threw in, getting the crowd's attention. "She was carrying the other Lucario on her back while she ran into the town from the jungle."

"WHAT? WHERE DID THEY GO?!" the Lickitung yelled, throwing a rain of spit at her.

"I-I don't know. I only saw them for a second. They disappeared when she ran behind one of the buildings at the center of the village," the cat-like Pokemon replied, a little intimidated by the normal-type's loud voice and disgusted by the drops of spit that now covered her.

The Meowth was trying to clean her fur of the saliva and the crowd went back to their rambling while Pyro and Storm decided to get going again and continue their search for a place to stay.

"Look's like there has been a fight," the Pikachu said, whiping up a conversation.

"Y-yeah," Pyro responded with a low voice.

"I wonder who those guys were... Guessing by what the Lickitung said, someone must've been thrown through a wall," Storm theorized as he folded his arms.

"Um... There was a girl too," the Shinx commented.

"Right. Do you think they fought for her?" the Pikachu asked with a thoughtful expression. "Maybe there has been some kind of love triangle."

She simply shook her head, indicating that she wasn't really sure what to say.

"Well, who knows what was up with them. We have to focus on catching that outlaw, anyway. We shouldn't get distacted by things like that," Storm replied before he suddenly noticed a sign on top of the buildings they passed.

"Look. That sign over there says Teky's Inn... I think we found a place to spend the night," he said, pointing at the wooden house to their left.

Pyro nodded. "Okay."

The two approached the front door and entered the building, stepping into the lobby that had a reception to their left and a staircase to their right.

"Hello? Someone there?" Storm called into the room when he noticed that nobody was standing behind the reception.

"Coming!" a male voice called from upstairs.

After a short moment, a Buizel came running down into the lobby and behind the counter. The water-type had grim look on his face when he noticed the oddly colored Pikachu but it quickly faded and was replaced by a serious expression. "Sorry, I was cleaning the hallway upstairs. I'm Teky, welcome to my inn."

He was holding a dirty towel in one of his paws. Pyro immediately noticed that it was covered with red stains of blood, causing her to let out a silent gasp. "I-is that...?"

A look of distaste wandered onto Teky's face while he looked at the blood-covered piece of cloth in his paw. "Yes, it is... There's a healer staying here and one of our other guests brought an injured Pokemon to her. I just finished cleaning the stains that were left when the Lucario carried the other Lucario upstairs."

"Lucario?" Storm repeated while he raised an eye brow. He turned to his partner. "Do you think that those two were the Pokemon we heard of earlier?"

Pyro nodded with an unsure look.

"Oh... You've already heard of the fight at Lickitung's..." the inn-keeper replied. "Those two ran into some trouble with a Dewott and one of them got hurt pretty badly."

"What exactly was the reason for the fight?" the Pikachu asked in a curious tone.

"The Dewott was part of a criminal organisation and tried to kidnap the female Lucario," Teky's explained, putting the towel away.

"I see..." Storm nodded, processing the new information.

"Ehm... I think they deserve some privacy. The girl looked pretty devastated when she left a while ago. It's only natural after what she's been through today." The Buizel leaned onto the counter. "Anyway, do you two want to rent a room?"

"Yes. A room for one night, please," Storm replied.

"One bed, I assume?" the water-type said, turning around to the table where all the room-keys were placed.

Both electric-type's immediately blushed to his assumption. Pyro was giving her partner a nervous glance before she corrected the water-type. "N-no! Two beds, please..."

"Oh, sorry... You two kinda looked like a couple." Teky's hand moved from the key he was just about to pick up to another one before he handed it to the two explorers. "Your room is the first one on the left side after you walk up those stairs. One night costs 500 Poke. You can either pay right now or tomorrow when you leave again."

The Shinx reached for the pouch on her right front leg and pulled out a small pouch, picked out the money they needed and hesitantly placed the it on the counter. "H-here."

"Thanks a lot!" Teky responded with a smile while he grabbed the money and put into a box with a lock that stood on the table behind him. "If you need anything to eat, just tell me and I'll fix something up for you two. Or if you want to take a bath, you can go to the bathhouse next door. You can bathe there for free if you tell them that you're staying here."

"Alright. Thank you," Storm replied before they made their up the stairs.

They began to take off their equipment and placed it onto one of the tables in the room after entering and inspecting it for a moment.

"Um... Can you help me with my bandana?" Pyro asked as she struggled to get the purple piece of cloth off her ear.

"Sure," the Pikachu responded.

He walked up to the Shinx, grabbed the bandana with both of his paws and pulled... causing Pyro's face to slam into his chest.

A furious blush wandered onto her cheeks while she felt the warmth of his body and heard the faint sound of her partner's heartbeat.

"S-sorry!" Storm apologized as the Shinx pulled away and turned around in an attempt to hide her completely red face from him.

"N-no problem..." she replied in a whipser, still not able to face the Pikachu who was now holding her bandana in his paws.

"Ehm... So what should we do now? Ask the inn-keeper for something to eat?" the mouse-like Pokemon asked, putting the cloth to their other gear.

"Um... We've been travelling for a couple of days so I think that a bath would be nice," Pyro answered when her blush finally died down again.

"Hmm... Okay, let's take a look at the bathhouse," Storm responded with a smile.

The two electric-types made their way out of the building and walked up to the house that stood right next to the inn. A sign that said "Torkoal's Bathhouses", with a small drawing of a hotspring next to it, was placed on top of the front door.

After entering, they were greeted with the sight of a medium-sized room that had two couches to their right, a few lockers to their left and a table with a Torkoal standing behind it at the other end of the room. Next to the table were two doorways. The two assumed that they led to the bath as a small amount of steam was coming out of the openings.

The fire-type had a slightly disgusted look on its face when the Pikachu approached it but it immediately turned blank again when he greeted the bath-owner.

"Hello, welcome to Torkoal's Bathhouses," the Torkoal responded with a female voice.

"We'd like to take a bath. We're staying at the inn next door and the owner said we could come here for free," Storm explained.

The fire-type hesitated for a moment before she nodded and looked at the left doorway. "The women's bath is on the left and the men's bath is on the right."

"You have different baths for each gender?" the Pikachu asked with a confused expression.

"Mixed baths are inadequate in Alteal since a rather embarassing incident that happened to the royal family a few hundred years ago. Most of our guest come from there so we split it into two seperate baths," the fire-type explained before she gave the two a stern look. "I also don't want my customers to get any weird ideas in there..."

"Um... Weird ideas? What do you-" Pyro stopped there and a shocked expression wandered lnto her face as she understood what the Torkoal meant.

Storm cleared his throat with a slightly embarrassed look. "You won't have to worry about that with us. We don't have that kind of relationship."

"That's good to know... Well, you two better get inside! Don't want the water to get cold, do you?" the Torkoal replied.

"Right... See you later, Pyro," Storm waved at his partner with a smile.

"Um... Storm?" She stopped him as an unsure expression appeared on her face. "How long do you think you'll be in there? I'm just asking so you don't have to wait if I need a little longer than you..."

"I don't know... Whoever finishes first just has to wait for the other one. Those couches over there look comfy... Let's meet up there after we're finished," the Pikachu answered before he headed into the men's bath.

Pyro was just about to head into the women's bath when the bath-owner stopped her. "Oh! Shinx! There's something you should know. If you go in there and see a blood-covered Lucario, don't freak out. She had to carry an injured friend to a healer and got some blood on her fur."

'The Lucario from the fight is here? I could ask her what happened... Ugh... I'd have to muster up the courage to speak with her for that though... No way I'm able to do that without Storm next to me,' the electric-type thought, hesitantly nodding in response. "O-okay..." she stuttered, her voice even more timid than before and slowly made her way through the doorway.

A cloud of steam occupied her vision while she walked through a short hallway that connected the entrance with the actual bath.

Pyro slowly stepped into the big room that had a wooden floor and walls. A long stone sink, filled with steaming water and a couple of bucket standing in front of it, was built along the right wall. At the other end of the bath was a big pool made out stone slabs with an even denser cloud of steam above it.

The faint sound of snoring entered her ears.

"Um... Hello?" the Shinx called into the room as she slowly approached the pool of steaming water and noticed a figure at the right side.

More snoring noises was the response she got.

A Lucario, with a huge snot bubble coming off its nose, was leaning onto the pool's edge, only the upper part of it's body sticking out of the water.

Pyro gave the Pokemon an unsure look before she spoke up again with a slightly louder voice. "Excuse me?"

The bubble exploded and the fighting-type shot into a sitting position, staring at the electic-type with wide open eyes.

"Huh?"

* * *

_**End of Side Chapter**_

* * *

_*salutes and calls a chopper to get back into the office*_


	40. Bathhouse Deductions

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Well, well, well... Look who it is..._

_Yup! The guy who hasn't updated this story for several months... Heartless bastard._

_Before I go on and on and on about finishing military programs, getting a job and real life stuff, I'll just get straight to the point._

_Here's new stuff for you to read._

* * *

**Chapter 39 - Bathhouse Deductions**

* * *

Here I was, in front of the bathhouse that stood next to Teky's Inn. A sign with "Torkoal's Bathhouses" written on it was placed above the entrance, a small picture of a hotspring drawn next to the writing.

How I got here was like a blur to me.

Yelling at Celsius for a few minutes in the hope of getting a response... Falling down to my knees while I still held onto the table next to me when I realized that she wouldn't answer to my calls... Fighting the tears that had welled up in my eyes... Slowly getting back onto my feet and walking down into the lobby while my mind was clouded with question and thoughts of worry and guilt... Not even looking at the inn-keeper when he asked me what was wrong and heading straight out of the front door.

'I can't handle this anymore...' I was still struggling with the headache from my recent memory-shred while my view moved down to the entrance of the building. 'This might just be what I need... A bath to calm down and clear up my mind.'

Thoughts about Celsius, the memory of Darkrai and my worry about Cobal's well being were flying through my mind as I approached the wooden door and twisted the doorknob.

After entering and taking a look at my new surroundings, which consisted of a medium-sized room with a wooden floor and walls, I moved my eyes towards the table that stood at the other end of the room. Two doorways could be seen to the left and right behind it.

A Torkoal was standing behind the table and its squinted eyes widened when it noticed me. I looked down at myself for a moment. Red stains of blood and several bruises were scattered across my dirty fur. 'This is going to be awkward...'

"Uhm..." I hesitantly approached the fire-type. "Hello... I'm staying at the inn nextdoor and the owner said I could bathe here for free."

"W-what happened?" the Pokemon asked with a female voice.

I broke eye-contact and lowered my head, clutching my left arm with my right paw. "A friend got injured in a fight and I had to carry him to a healer..."

"I-I see..." The Torkoal gulped before she pointed at the door that was on the left. "The women's bath is on the left. Please use the bucket besides the sink to wash that blood off before you go into the big pool."

"Okay..." I replied, slowly walking to the doorway she was pointing at.

After passing through a short hallway, which was filled with a small amount of steam, I found myself in a rather big bath with a long, stone sink to my right and a pool of steaming water at the other end of the room. Several buckets were placed along the sink, some of them already filled with water.

'I'll get this blood off of me and jump into the bath... Then I can try to clear up my mind.' With that thought, I walked over to the sink and began to clean myself. A sponge was inside the bucket I used, making it easier to wash off the red stains on my fur.

I sighed when I was finished and headed towards the pool, a worried expression still plastered onto my face. After tipping my left foot into the water to check its temperature, I sat down onto the edge and slowly let my body sink into the warm liquid. The pool wasn't very deep so even when I sat down, the water level barely reached my shoulders.

The water was pretty hot but I ignored the slight burning on my skin. A long sigh of relief left my mouth while the burning all over my body turned more and more into comforting warmth.

'Finally a real bath...' I put some of the hot water onto my face and rubbed my eyes with my paws before I leaned back and stared at the steaming center of the pool.

**~ BGM: Reasoning - Persona 4 (Extended)**

'Alright... Now I can try to sort out my mind. I'll go over everything step by step. Let's start with the most recent events.'

Images of my recent memory shred flashed through my mind and my worry about Celsius became more intense again.

'Celsius and that Darkrai... Those green eyes... Ugh, they feel so familiar. Whoever that Darkrai was must've been some sort of criminal. All those things I heard about him...'

_"Why did she have to die? Who would do such a thing?"_

_"He destroyed a whole village and killed a hundred Pokemon just because he thought it was funny."_

_"Hahaha! What's the difference between you and the little Azurill that's hiding behind that box over there?"_

_"There's no difference between the two of you... Both of you are going to die."_

_"This criminal is a sociopath. There's a bounty of 50.000 Poke on his head."_

'Wait... That last pair of voices I heard... I think that was his and mine. What was he talking about again?'

_"Now what would happen if a Pokemon would go to the human world?"_

_"What do you-"_

_"Hehehe, I guess you know what I'm getting at. Humans are funny creatures if you think about it. They don't have any special abilities like we do. Just imagine how much fun I could have in a world where nobody is able to stop me!"_

'He wanted to enter the human world because humans don't have powers like Pokemon do... They would've been helpless to anything he might have done.'

Knowing about a threat that not only affected the Pokemon world but my own world as well, rose up the question if somebody stopped that Darkrai of course.

'Did...Did I stop him? I'm the Spirit of Faith so it's likely...'

I couldn't say it for sure but seeing that it was the most likely thing that could've happened, I assumed that I stopped or helped to stop a Darkrai from terrorizing the human world.

'But if I stopped him... Was it really him that attacked Celsius... Ugh... I also have to consider that I could've done that in a completely different time.'

Too many things were still unclear to come up with any fixed conclusions... The problem remembered me about a similar problem I had faced with Grovyle when we first met. Back then we had to speculate about another person that looking for the Time Gears because we didn't know yet what had happened to the gear from Treeshroud Forest. Grovyle's theory turned out to be wrong but he was surprisingly good at handling the little clues we had.

The only thing I could do to move forward was to think like Grovyle and work with the facts I knew.

'All I can say for sure is that it was a Darkrai that attacked her. It's not even save to say that she's dead and that this Darkrai was the same Pokemon from my memory.'

The fact that I didn't have any proof for Celsius' death managed to relief me a bit. The strong sensation of pain that had been sent through the mental-link also could've meant that the Darkrai simply knocked her out with a powerful attack... That's what I was hoping for at least.

The last words I had heard from the Kirlia before our mental-link broke up suddenly rang through my mind.

'Tell her... That's the last thing I heard from her.' I raised an eyebrow. 'Wait... Tell her?'

Those words sounded strangely familiar and sent a light stringing into my brain, however, no proper memory formed in my mind.

'It's no use... It brings up a strange feeling of familarity but I don't remember anything. What did the Darkrai mean with that? Tell Celsius to tell me that it attacked her? Why would it do that?'

My thoughts shifted to the other members of Team Work.

'And what about Corrine and Siavon? Does that Darkrai plan to attack them as well? Or did it already do that? Why would it do that in the first place? They were only on their way to-'

Before I could even finish that question, the answer immedately shot out of my mouth. "It wants to make our mission harder for us."

'If Team Work doesn't call off the teams that are guarding the remaining Time Gears, then we still have to deal with them. Dammit! That means that this Darkrai must know what I'm doing! Who the hell is this thing? Why won't it face me if it has something against me?'

All those questions didn't bring me any further so I decided to come up with a conclusion to solve the problems.

Firstly, every member of Team Work had most likely been attacked by a Darkrai. Whether they were alive or not was still unclear but, of course, I hoped that they still were.

Secondly, the Darkrai must have known me from somewhere and had a grudge against me. If it was the same Pokemon from my memory-shred or not was unclear as well.

'Let's come up with a solution for those problems. Something like a to-do list.'

Point number one was to find out if Celsius, Corrine and Siavon were still alive.

Point number two was to find the Darkrai that attacked them.

'Good. Knowing how to solve those problems took off some stress.' I let out a low sigh of relief as my body sank a bit deeper into the steaming water.

The short feeling of relief was only short though, as the next points I had to go over were Cobal's condition, Suke and the Peace Seekers.

'Cobal...' I remembered all of his injuries and the gruesome cut that had run along his face. It might have been his choice to fight Suke, however, a slight feeling of guilt was coming over me nevertheless.

'This was supposed to be my fight. If I hadn't taken that potion from Peon, I could've fought Suke myself... Ugh...'

My thoughts shifted to the water-type.

'How can he be so strong? He was not only able to keep up with Cobal in his mega-evolved form, he also managed to give him a hard time and beat him out of his Mega Evolution.'

What also worried me was the fact that he simply disappeared after his battle with Cobal.

'How did he do that? He was unconscious... Did he wake up again and sneaked away? Or maybe... Maybe someone helped him. Maybe another Peace Seeker is trying to capture me. Dammit. I have to be twice as careful about them now. Suke said he'd complete a mission even if it killed him. If he survived, he's going to try to capture me again for sure. And if he has a partner, they're probably going to help him next time.'

There was my third objective. If the Peace Seekers were still after me, I had to watch out for possible attacks from them.

The possibility of another Peace Seeker that could be on a mission to kidnap me brought my thoughts to the organisation in general.

'The Peace Seekers... They are supposed to be an organisation that wants to rule the world. But what do they want with me? Suke said that their boss knows me... But from where? Or... Or rather when? There it is again, the time-travel problem. I have no idea from which time I come from... The past or the future?'

This question was frustrating me a bit. How was I supposed to answer it? The only way I could think of was to regain my memories. Without them I had hit a dead-end.

'Ugh... Think like Grovyle... Work with the clues you have. His boss knows me so I must've met him at some point. How long does a Pokemon live? Like humans?'

Humans were able to live about 100 years if they were healthy, I remembered that much. I didn't know if it was the same for Pokemon but for the theory that formed in my head, I assumed that it was.

'I must've met this guy in the last 80 years or so. Or rather I will meet him, if the reason I'm able to travel through time is this whole mess with the Time Gears.'

Finding out more about the Peace Seekers was another important point on my list. They knew me so finding out more about them, might've helped me to find out more about myself.

'Considering what happened back at Fogbound Lake, it most likely is the reason... I'm somewhat cleared up about the whole Demon's Embrace thing but entering another time-line still confuses the hell out of me.'

I went over everything I remembered from the other time-line I had entered yesterday in my mind.

'Riley and Ozu... I finally got to see them again but they didn't even know me. Dammit... I'm kinda happy actually... I'd have no idea what to tell them if we reunited all of a sudden.'

I shook my head and pushed my worries aside. Thinking of what to do about my friends would come later.

'Okay... Back to the other timeline... All of that just happened because of the Time Gear I fused with.' Raising my right arm out of the water, I looked at the back of my black paw. 'I have to find out more about the symbol. Thinking more into it will only stress me out again. It can't be good if I worry about entering a new timeline everytime I touch one of them. I'll think about this when I actually get to the next one.'

Letting my paw fall back down into the pool, I decided to add the next points to my to-do list.

Point number five was to talk about my Demon's Embrace ability with Cobal once he woke up again.

Point number six was to find out more about the Time Gear I had fused with and maybe even find a way to seperate with it.

'Alright... The most recent events are done... Whew... Now I can think of what to do about Riley, Ozu and Grovyle.'

A somewhat depressed look wandered onto my face while I thought about my friends. 'They're stuck in the future with Dusknoir doing who knows what to them. The only way to save them is to travel to the future myself... But in order to do that I have to figure out how to actually use this time travel ability I'm supposed to have.'

My expression slowly filled itself with determination. I had just figured out what my most important objective was... To me at least... Saving the world might have been the obvious priority here but to me it was more important to make up for what I did to my friends. All the other problems I still had to solve were things I would take care of on my way to the main goal.

'I will gain the ability to time travel and save my friends from the future!'

**~ Stop music**

I sighed and closed my eyes, feeling somewhat happier because I had figured out how solve most of my problems now. Sure, a few things were still worrying me but the intense stress and exhaustion from earlier were gone. It felt as if the hot water had melted them away. Not only that but the warmth and the feeling of comfort actually made me feel a little drowsy.

I kept theorizing about what I would do if I figured out how to travel to the future. What I would do and say if I met my friends. If they would forgive me or not...

Cobal was another constant thought in my mind. I just couldn't keep worrying about him. Peon had been able to completely heal me in only one night and I had been pretty much dead. She had to be able to heal him too.

The warm water around me slowly drew my attention from my thoughts and focused it on the comfort. It didn't take long until I got sleepier and sleepier and finally dozed off into a sleep that was caused by physical and mental exhaustion.

...

...

...

_Lucid images of what seemed to be a training ground and a brown figure flickered in front of me._

_"Excuse me, Celsius?"_

_"What's up, Corrine?"_

_"Ehm... You are aware that Smeargle wants to teach me how to use Oblivious, right?"_

_"Uuh... Yeah, so what?"_

_"Well... You are able to use Attract so... Would you assist me?"_

_"Huh? You want me to hit you with Attract? On purpose?" _

_"Yes, please. Smeargle has told me everything I have to do. All I need now is some practice."_

_The scenery changed and I found myself in front of the blurry shape of an Eevee._

_"Alright, here it goes."_

_A pink glow appeared in front of me for a second._

_"Beautiful..."_

_"Fail."_

_Everything faded to black for a second before the shape appeared in front of me again._

_"Ready to try again?"_

_"Yes. I'm sure it will work this time."_

_The pink glow showed up again._

_"You okay...?"_

_"Ugh... I... I'm fine... It worked!"_

_"And it only took you two days! Congratulations!"_

_"Please, hit me again. I have to master it."_

_The scene faded to black once again._

_"Alright. It worked five times in a row now. I think you're good."_

_"One last time, please. I have to make sure."_

_"Okay..."_

_Yet another pink glow flashed before me._

_"Corrine? Are you okay?"_

_"You... Berries... Moonlight... Beautiful..."_

_"Berries? Moonlight? What are you- Mmph!"_

_My lips suddenly felt as if something was touching them and strange heat coursed through my whole body._

_"I-I'm so sorry!"_

_"W-we will never talk about this! Ever!"_

_The images faded and the lucid feeling slowly disappeared._

"Um... Hello?" A female voice, that was much clearer than the voices from before, entered my ears.

"Excuse me?" it continued, pulling me out of my sleep.

My body stiffened and my eyes opened. "Huh?"

* * *

**End of Chapter - 39**

* * *

_Here we are, at the point where the side chapter ended._

_Ended a little earlier than the spoilers foretold, didn't it?_

_Well, I usually tend to overdo it with those spoilers... The original chapter 39 would've had around 10.000 words if I hadn't split it._

_I'll try to plan out a better chapter structure from now on... Take it easier with those spoiler and stuff._

_Other plans? Well, the next thing to be published is Chapter 40. Then you'll get Chapter 2 of Soul Gatherer and then we'll be back to this story._

_I'm considering to update the rating of this story from T to M. As you might've noticed from last chapters spoiler, things get a little fucked up in future chapters... And possibly past chapters as well in upcoming revision updates. _

_Nothing too drastic though..._

_I'll do that when we actually get to the *cough* more descriptive *cough* stuff... We already have it anyway. You know, groping scene from Chapter 3... Gore from Chapter 37 with Suke twisting his shell into Cobal's chest._

_Anyway... I hope you liked this chapter. See you in the next one!_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	41. What's your name?

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Hello, everyone!_

_It took me a while to finish but here's the next chapter._

_There's not much to say about this author's life. Managing freetime when you start out at your new job is a little harder than I thought it would. Still getting used to the engineer life._

_Anyway, here's new stuff for you to read! _

_(9000 words, wow, amazing)_

* * *

**Chapt****er 40 - What's your name? **

* * *

My body stiffened and my eyes opened. "Huh?"

I blinked a couple of times before I realized that I was still in the bath and a light blue, cat-like creature that I recognized as a Shinx was standing to my left, outside of the pool. It must've been the female voice that woke me up.

Letting out a yawn, I faced the electric-type with a groggy look. "Oh, hello. Looks like I fell asleep."

She gave me an unsure expression. "Um... Sorry for waking you up," she said timidly.

"It's okay..." I rubbed my eyes with my right paw, trying to get rid of my remaining grogginess. "I shouldn't have dozed off like that..."

For some reason I could recall some strange images from a dream. I decided to ignore the girl next to me for a momemt to figure out what it was about. 'I had a dream... Two voices and-' My eyes widened a bit when I remembered what they had been talking about. 'That was Celsius and Corrine! Why would I dream about them kissing each other during a training session?'

I brought my left paw up to my chin. 'It's strange... I've seen everything from Celsius's point of view. Not just that, it actually felt more like a memory than a dream.' Those two facts brought up an idea that put a smile onto my face. 'What if it really was her memory and it was sent through our mental-link? She... That can only mean that she's still alive and only unconscious!'

"W-what happened to your arm?" the Shinx asked in a surprised tone, pulling my attention back to her.

I blinked and looked down at my burned left arm. Normally I didn't like to talk about it but the happiness of knowing that Celsius was most likely still alive actually made me open up to the question.

"I don't know," I answered, putting my arm back down into the water. "I have amnesia so I don't remember how I got this burn."

She didn't respond verbally but gave me a concerned expression. It seemed like she wanted to talk but couldn't bring herself to open her mouth... She really must've been timid.

There was an awkward silence between us for moment until I decided to speak up again. "Uhm... Have you been in the water yet? It's really nice."

"Uhm?" the electric-type whispered under her breath before she hesitantly shook her head and tipped her left paw into the water. After checking the liquid's temperature, she hopped into the water and sat down next to me. Her head barely reached out of the water what actually made her look a bit funny.

I kept looking at her while she seemed to get used to the water. After about a minute, the Shinx let out a sigh and leaned onto the edge of the pool just like I did.

She gave me a nervous glance now and then when she noticed my staring. I wasn't really sure if I should say something or not. The electric-type barely seemed to be able to keep calm because of her shiness that I had noticed earlier.

After another moment of awkward silence, she spoke up again. "Um... I have a pretty nasty scar too," she said, sounding as if she wanted to apologize for her earlier question. The electric-type turned around and leaned onto the edge of the pool before she pulled away some of the fur on her left hind leg and revealed a red marking on it.

The Shinx had a pretty visible blush on her face... Showing her scar like that must've been embarrassing for her. "Um... A Rhydon dug its horn through my leg... I pushed a friend out of the way when it attacked us but got caught by the attack myself," she explained returning to her previous position.

"Oh... Are you an explorer or something?" I asked, curious why she would get into a fight like that.

She obviously forced herself to make eye contact. "Um... Yes, I am. M-my name is Pyro."

I gave her a smile in response. "I'm Ri, nice to meet you."

The electric-type seemed to be surprised all of a sudden. "Ri?" She was looking at my face with a thoughtful expression for a moment.

'Does my name tell her something?' When I thought a little closer about it, I recalled the bounty on my head and turned a bit nervous. 'Did she see my poster? Dammit, what if she wants to catch me? Wigglytuff called off the hunt for me but if she hasn't been in Treasure Town in the last two days then there's no way her team would know about that...' Before I really could begin to worry though, Pyro spoke up again and drew my attention back to her.

"Y-yeah, nice to meet you too... Um... T-there's something I'd like to ask you if it's okay," she said, moving her gaze downwards.

I decided to be a bit more careful during this conversation. I might have sworn to myself that I wouldn't lie anymore, however, in my current situation, where I wasn't able to use any moves, it was very dangerous to get myself into a fight. Cobal wouldn't be able to save me this time if something happened.

"Uhm... Sure, what's up?" I replied, giving her a close look to check for any signs of suspicion or hostility in her expression.

She faced me with an unsure look. "A-are you the Lucario that got into a fight earlier this day? M-my friend and I heard some Pokemon talk about it."

A slight frown wandered onto my face. "Yeah... That was me..."

Pyro's expression turned concerned. "I heard that some kind of criminal Dewott was trying to kidnap you..."

I sighed as her question brought up rather stressful memories. "Yes, that idiot tricked me into going on a date with him before he pulled his sword on me. My friend came just in time to stop him but got hurt pretty badly when they fought."

"T-that must've been scary," the electric-type replied.

"It wasn't that bad... The problem is that the Dewott just disappeared after my friend beat him. I'm worried that he might go after me again," I responded.

She nodded in response. "T-that's understandable..."

I let out a sigh. "You know, I kinda blame myself for getting my friend hurt. If I hadn't taken-" I stopped myself there. Telling a Pokemon that was possibly out for my bounty that I wasn't able to use any moves would've given me a huge disadvantage in case she turned suspicious or even hostile. I wouldn't make that mistake twice. "Uhm... Forget it."

"Huh?" Pyro seemed to be confused for a moment before she gave me another concerned look. "H-how's your friend?"

"He's still at the healer..." I answered. "They're back at Teky's Inn where I'm staying... I really hope that he's going to be okay."

The Shinx turned a little surprised again. "I-I see... Um... My partner and me are staying at the inn too..."

'So I have two explorers that are staying at the same inn as me... Great... My name probably raised some suspicion. I should try to avoid them.' My gaze moved to the exit at the other end of the room. "Uhm, anyway... I think I should get out of here and check on my friend. I have no idea how long I've been asleep."

"I-I'll get out too. My partner should be done too," Pyro said in a strangely nervous tone.

A slight frown wandered onto my face. "Okay."

Both of us got out of the pool and Pyro shook her fur dry in an animalistic fashion. I turned red a bit when I did the same and dried my fur like dog would've done. This managed to get rid of most of the water but I was still a little damp afterwards.

As we made our way to the exit of the bath at the other side of the room, a nervous smile could be seen on my face. 'Dammit... Why am I so good at this?' I sighed. 'I'm so used to being a Pokemon that I can be affected by Attract but not enough to not feel embarrassed when I dry myself like a normal Lucario.'

Before we reached the doorway that lead to the entrance of the bathhouse, I noticed two baskets with signs above them next to the door. One of them was filled with white towels and "Clean Towels" was written above it. "Used Towels" was written above the empty one. 'That's convenient...'

After taking one of them and rubbing myself completely dry, I wrapped the towel around my body, it's top reaching just below my chest-spike. This simple action managed to remember me about my usual routine after taking a bath when I was still human. No actual images formed in my head but the knowledge of what I used to do reappeared.

'Yup... But I'm also definitly human. I'm not sure if I want to drop that towel.'

A memory of Grovyle's voice suddenly rang through my head.

_You have fur that's covering everything now, don't you?_

"Sure you idiot but I still feel more comfortable when I'm actually wearing something," I whispered in response to the memory.

"W-what's wrong?" Pyro asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I blushed a bit, seeing that she caught me in the middle of talking to myself. "Oh! It's nothing, just lost myself in my thoughts for a second."

The Shinx was already standing in the door frame of the exit. She probably managed to shake her fur completely dry and didn't need a towel.

I unwrapped the cloth around my body and threw it into the empty basked before I followed the electric-type out of the bath.

When we entered the lobby of the bathhouse, I immediately turned to the Torkoal to our left. "Thank you. I feel a lot better now," I said while Pyro and me walked in front of the fire-type's table.

She seemed to be reliefed. "Good to hear that, Lucario. I hope your friend gets well soon."

I responded with a wry smile. "Thank you. I'll be going then."

"Greet Teky for me when you see him!" the bathhouse owner replied.

"Will do!" I waved good-bye and turned around to head to the front door, however, Pyro had been standing behind me and was now blocking my way.

"Um... R-Ri?" she said, looking at the floor in front of her.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling a mix of confusion and nervousness.

It took her a moment to face me with a pleading look. "M-my partner hasn't finished his bath yet... W-would you wait with me here? Um... We're staying at the same place and I was thinking that the three of us could go back together..."

"Uhm... Sorry, but I really need to get back to-" she surprisingly interrupted me before I could finish my sentence.

"P-please!" she almost shouted. "I... Um..." The electric-type hesitated for a moment and a blush crept onto her cheeks. "I-I'm scared of waiting here alone," she said low enough for nobody but me to hear it.

'She's scared? Really? Hmph... I think she's suspicious and just wants to ask more questions.' For a moment I was speculating about simply walking past her but the desperate expression on her face immediately turned those thoughts into a feeling of guilt... She really seemed to be scared of being alone.

I let out a sigh. "Fine..."

Pyro smiled in response. "T-thank you."

The couches at in the corner next to the exit caught my eyes. "Let's sit down over there."

After both of us walked to the other side of the room and sat down on one of the two couches, I gave the Shinx a curious look. 'I should ask her some questions to find out if she really is after me.'

"So... You're an explorer... Are you on a mission or something?" I asked.

Pyro seemed to think about my question for a moment before she replied. "Y-yes... W-we're looking for an outlaw. A Riolu who is trying to steal the Time Gears." She hesitantly created eye-contact. "Um... Have you heard of it?"

'Dammit, that question backfired...' I turned a little nervous. "Err... Yes, I have."

For some reason the electric-type took a deep breath before she gave me a curious look. "Um... Y-you know what's weird? That Riolu has the same name as you. She's also called Ri."

'I see... She really is suspicious. Damn, I shouldn't have throw my name out like this. I wouldn't have this problem if I remembered my real one.' I tried to keep a calm expression. "Yeah, I've already heard about that too..."

I had to change the topic if I didn't want to get caught. "Say, have you heard anything from Magnezone or Guildmaster Wigglytuff in the last two days or so?"

The Shinx turned a little confused. "No. W-why do you ask?"

A nervous smile forced itself across my face. "Well, because I heard that they were talking about calling off the hunt because what that Riolu did actually turned out to be the right thing to do!"

"R-really?" Pyro seemed to be surprised by this but after putting on a thoughtful expression for a moment, a strange glint appeared in her eyes. "W-well... They might've sent a letter to all the guild outposts. Um... I'll tell my partner to go check on it tomorrow morning."

I mentally sighed in relief. 'I hope she bought it... If they really sent a letter to those outposts then I'm off the hook by tomorrow.'

"So... Um... What were you and your friend doing before you got into the fight with that Dewott?" the Shinx questioned, returning my attention to our conversation.

It took me a moment to find an answer that wasn't a lie. "Uhm... You know, the usual... Travelling, exploring dungeons, looking for treasures..."

"W-what kind of treasures?" she responded.

Before I could try to come up with something, a sudden voice came from the other side of the room. "Oh! Hey, Pyro!" a male voice called.

My eyes widened for a second when I saw that the source of the voice was a Pikachu.

My first reaction was to think about Riley but when I noticed some major differences, I calmed down a little.

He had a scar running across his left eye and a bit of rufled, black fur on his ear, however, the feature that stood out the most was his oddly deep colored fur.

As I raised my eye brow in confusion to his orange color, a sudden jolt of pain rushed through my skull and information on his condition surfaced from my mind.

_"...shiny..."_

_"...isn't it dangerous with...around?"_

_"...how can you call this thing your friend?..."_

"Ugh!" My left eye shut tight and my right paw wandered up to my aching head while a familiar black figure seemed to overlap the Pikachu for a split second. The headache became even worse... I almost felt myself fainting as the edge of my vision turned black.

"W-what's wrong?" Pyro asked in a concerned tone.

"Aah... I'm..." The pain slowly faded and after a while, it was completely gone.

The Pikachu from before had walked up to us and was now standing next to couch Pyro was sitting on. Both electric-type's had concerned expressions on their faces. The Torkoal behind the table at the other side of the room was also looking at me.

'What was that?' I suddenly knew all about the possibilty that a Pokemon could be born with a different color than usual and that they weren't treated very well because of it... That knowledge actually made me angry.

I shook my head and brought my paw back down onto my lap. "I'm okay... I just had a memory shred."

"Memory shred?" the Pikachu asked, seemingly a little confused by it.

"You're a shiny, right?" I asked in return, trying to change the subject.

His reaction was a little weird. The electric-type seemed to turn anxious and wary for some reason. "Yes... What about it?"

"Nothing... I just remembered what a Pokemon like you is called. I have nothing against you because of it, don't worry," I expained before my expression turned grim. "I do hate those who have though... Prejudicating idiots."

He gave me a smile in response. "Thank you. You don't meet a lot of Pokemon who think like that."

Pyro gained my attention again and pointed at the Pikachu next to her. "Oh... Um... This is my partner Storm."

The nervousness from before immediately returned. "Hi... I'm Ri," I replied somewhat hesitantly.

Storm raised an eye brow. "Ri?"

"S-she's the Lucario that got into the fight we've heard about earlier. Ri is staying at the same in as us and I asked her to wait with me for you," the Shinx explained.

"I see... That must've been a bad experience," Storm replied while he faced me.

I rubbed the back of my head. "It wasn't that bad... You'd be surprised just how many bad experiences I've had before..."

The shiny Pikachu eyed my left arm. "Is that burn one of them?" he accidentally blurted out after a moment and immediately put his paw on his mouth when he noticed his insensitive question.

"I don't remember how I got it," I answered with a slight frown. "I woke up in a forest a couple of weeks ago, with no memory what so ever."

"Amnesia?" Storm replied in a strange tone before he seemed to be in deep thought all of a sudden. "Huh..."

The way he acted made me feel a little uncomfortable. If he knew that 'Ri' had amnesia as well I would've been in trouble. "Anyway... I don't wanna be rude or anything but I have to get back to my friend," I said with a fake smile while I got up from the couch. "I really need to see if he's okay."

"Oh!" The Pikachu looked at Pyro. "I guess we'll head back to the inn too."

"Um... Okay..." The Shinx jumped off the couch and joined her partner's side.

'Great... Just great... Both of them are completely suspicious about me.' The three of us said good-bye to the bathhouse-owner and left the building through the front door. However, before the two explorers followed me outside, I could hear them exchange some whispering.

I frowned at them for a moment before I moved my view onto the town. Nagi Village was colored in an orange light as the sun was just about to set by now. Only a few Pokemon that didn't pay a lot of attention to me were left on the streets. Some of them were lighting up the lanterns that hung down at the fronts of their houses.

I decided to walk ahead of the other two Pokemon behind me to avoid them. When I was almost in front of the entrance to Teky's Inn, Storm suddenly spoke up again and stopped me.

"Hey, Lucario..." he said, causing me to turn around to face him. "Pyro already told me that she asked you about the Riolu we're looking for but I find it quite the coincidence that you have the same name as her," he explained with slightly narrowed eyes.

'Oh, shit...' I had told them too much. A bit of sweat formed on my forehead.

"Yeah, a few Pokemon mentioned that to me before..." I responded with a nervous smile, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Storm only kept going. "The second thing that's bugging me is that you, just like her, have amnesia."

My left eye twitched nervously and my body flinched slightly. 'I'm screwed... I'm so screwed...'

The Pikachu tensed up a bit. "The Pokemon were looking for is a Riolu called Ri, has amnesia and is supposed to be found near one of the locations that hold a Time Gear... We're pretty close to Limestone Cavern, which is one of those places. So here's what we'd like to ask you..."

"Um..." Pyro spoke up with a slightly sad look on her face. "Are the Riolu with the 10.000 Poke bounty on its head?"

It took me a moment to answer. For what felt like a minute or so I was simply staring at them, unsure what to do or what to say. If I admitted who I really was them those two probably would've attacked me... If I lied I would've broken the oath I made to myself. Lying was obviously the better choice in my current situation of not being able to defend myself but for some reason I was actually feeling a tingle of excitement towards a fight at the back of my mind. Fighting with my current handicap would've been a real challenge.

Closing my eyes and letting out a sigh, I decided to do the thing that felt right to me. "I gave you too many hints, huh?"

Storm was the first one to respond. "So you evolved and burned your arm somehow..."

I faced him with a serious expression, taking a quick glance at some of the bystanding Pokemon who were luckily still ignoring us. I recognized a Whismur and a Loudred, a Meowth, a Bulbasaur and a Litleo.

"Alright... Listen, before you cause a huge tumult here, please let me-" The Pikachu interrupted me before I could continue.

"Shut up!" he yelled, tensing up even more. "We know all about your tactics. First you talk your opponents into a false sense of security before you knock them out when they turn their backs on you."

"T-that you tried to make me think that they called off the hunt for you only proves that," Pyro added, mimicking her partner.

"Wigglytuff said he'd handle it! I've talked with him three days ago!" I tried to explain, subconsciously tensing up myself.

"If that is so then just come with us to Treasure Town. We'll ask him and Magnezone whether you're telling the truth or not," the Pikachu replied, his eyes moving at the villagers for a second. He obviously didn't want to harm any innocent Pokemon either.

"I'm sorry, but I can't..." I answered in a sad tone, slightly lowering my head. There was no way that I would've left this town as long as Cobal was still injured.

"Then we'll have to drag you there." Electricity sparked from his red cheek pouches. "Get ready, Pyro."

"Is there any way to solve this without fighting next to those-" Pyro surprisingly interrupted me.

"No, t-they told us that the best way to deal with you is to knock you out without any questions," she responded, attemting to put on an intimidating expression.

'God dammit!' A look of distress could be seen on my face for a moment before I focused my gaze on the two electric-types in front of me. They were not making a move yet and simply looked at me as well, seemingly trying to muster what they were dealing with.

"I can't get a proper read on her with my Anticipation... I sense some kind of dragon-type move but nothing specific," Storm whispered to Pyro, barely loud enough for me to hear.

'He's sensing Dragon Pulse too?' I was a bit confused by his inability to get a proper read on me but soon realized that it was probably because of the potion.

"Don't try to use Wild Charge... Just cover my back while I try to..." The remaining was to quiet for me to hear. Pyro strangely blushed and seemed to turn angry a bit to what he had said.

The Pikachu took one step forward before a strange smirk spread across his face. "You know, for a criminal you're actually kinda cute," he said, winking at me.

"Wha-" Before I could even react or try to comprehend his words, a pink heart quickly formed in front of him and flew directly into my face. It shattered into several smaller hearts that slowly faded into the air.

'Attract?! I have to...' It was already too late to do anything... I slowly lost myself in the sight of the Pikachu in front of me, who suddenly seemed a lot more attractive than before. Blood rushed into my cheeks and for some reason my whole body felt hot. The street behind him, the buildings and the Shinx next to him turned into nothing but blurs to me.

My gaze quickly moved up and down his form. The scar on his eye made him look pretty tough... His lips seemed soft and appealing... When my eyes moved down again, first to his chest and then even lower, I had to chuckle.

'I wonder what it'd be like to...' My trail of thought was interrupted by an almost inaudible voice that echoed through my mind.

'Are you seriously trying to imagine how THAT would look like?!'

Several naughty images formed in my head, depicting the two of us in rather inapproptiate positions. I could feel a small drop of blood run down my snout while the small voice at the back of my head became louder and louder.

'He hit you with Attract, god dammit! You're thinking of fucking a mouse, you moron!'

The blue blur next to my center of attention suddenly turned bigger.

'Snap out of it!' the voice yelled, loud enough to snap me out of my dazed state.

My eyes immediately focused again and my senses returned. I was barely able to dodge the Shinx that was charging at me by sidestepping at just the last moment. Pyro quickly turned around after her missed attack to face me again.

I couldn't help but to blush when I looked at the Pikachu to my left and rubbed the blood away from my nose. 'What the hell was that? Attract worked again but it wasn't like with the Pancham... Why would I think of something like that?' The perverted images still lingered in my mind but I managed to push them away and tensed up to prepare myself for their next attack. 'I can worry about that later.'

"How did you do that?" Storm asked with a shocked expression on his face. "Attract normally holds for a whole minute!"

"I'm human on the inside. Attract won't work on me like on other Pokemon," I explained with a smirk, receiving me a look of disbelief from him.

"Human? B-but they're just a legend!" he stammered before he shook his head and regained his composure. "Ugh..."

"Whoa! What's going on over there?!" One of the bystanding Pokemon had noticed our fight and was looking at us.

Storm noticed the villager but grit his teeth and quickly charged forward, his right fist covering itself in electricity.

'Thunderpunch...' I got down into my fighting stance and readied myself while a smirk spread across my face. My previous battles with Riley had shown me how to deal with the move. 'I just have to be careful not to touch the electricity when I divert his punch.'

The electric-type threw his first at me when he was in range. I reacted by stepping to his left and pushed his arm out of the way with my right one before I countered with a kick to his head.

Storm stumbled away from me, open to a follow-up attack, however, before I could do anything, Pyro suddenly charged at me from my right, her whole body covered in electricity.

'Dammit!' I jumped back a bit to dodge the Shinx. She landed next to her partner and growled at me.

The Pikachu quickly recovered from my attacks and tensed up again.

My breath hastened and a bit of sweat formed on my forehead. 'Damn... One counter and I'm already exhausted...'

Storm glared at me and focused a lot of electricity around his body, sending a loud crackling noise through the streets. "I'll finish her off with one attack..."

More and more bolts of lightning swirled around him and a look of dread wandered onto my face. 'What is he doing? He can't launch an attack like this in a village full of people!'

"A-are you really doing this?" Pyro seemed to be anxious for some reason and was looking at her partner with a worried expression.

The yellow electricity intensified to a level that almost seemed out of control before the Pikachu suddenly cried out in pain and shut his left eye. Several bolts shot into random directions around him, tearing up the ground.

None of them were headed my way, however, at corner of my eye I was able to see that the small Whismur from before stood in the way of one of the outlashing lightning bolts.

"Shit!" I acted on instinct when I turned away from my opponents and dashed towards the normal-type. Ignoring my exhaustion, I leapt at the Pokemon and grabbed it, rolling out of the way. I hugged the screaming normal-type to my chest and closed my eyes while the stray bolt hit the spot the Whismur had been standing on and sent a small explosion into the air.

When the dust settled down and no more crackling noises were audible, I opened them again and looked down at the shaking Whismur in my arms. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," it said, some tears forming at the corners of its eyes. It was obviously still a kid.

I raised my head and looked to my left to find an exhausted Storm and a shocked Pyro next to him. The soil around him had been ripped up by his previous attack and a lot of dust flew in the air between us. Luckily none of the remaining Pokemon and surrounding buildings had been hit.

In front of me was the Loudred from before, who stared at the Pokemon in my arms with wide open eyes. "Y-you saved my son..." it said with a female voice, noticably shocked by what had just happened.

I put the Pokemon back down onto the ground. "Quick get back to your mom."

The Whismur nodded and ran into the arms of his mother. "Mommy!"

After crouching down to hug her son, the normal-type glared at the two explorers to my left. The other bystanders that had noticed what was going on did the same.

I turned to Pyro and Storm, sending the shiny Pikachu a glare. "What kind of idiot are you?!"

The mouse-like electric-type was panting while he glanced at all the Pokemon who were looking at him. His expression turned angry at first but changed into a wide eyed stare when he looked at the mother and son next to me.

"What's going on here?!" a Meowth to my right asked with a female voice.

Some other villagers had run onto the street by now, slowly forming a small crowd around the two explorers in front of me and myself.

Storm hectically looked around him with a shocked look. "S-she's a criminal!" he replied in a distressed tone. Pyro simply nodded to this while she mimicked her partner, only difference being that her expression looked more pleading than shocked.

"That's the Spirit of Faith, you moron!" the Bulbasaur yelled in response with a male voice, causing my eyes to widen and the crowd to begin rambling.

'H-he knows about me?'

"Isn't that some kind of hero from Alteal?!" another Pokemon shouted.

"What is she doing here?" the Litleo from before asked out loud.

I couldn't believe it... All of these Pokemon were on my side because I was the Spirit of Faith.

Storm spoke up again, trying to justify himself. "She's trying to steal the Time Gears!"

This, however, was only answered by more rambling.

"You got the wrong Pokemon!"

"She saved my ancestor's village!"

"You almost killed my son!"

"How dare you attack her?!"

The shouting continued and more and more villagers joined the upset crowd. When their voices turned up to an almost painful volume, I decided to end this uproar.

"EVERYONE, SHUT UP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, silencing the crowd and drawing everyone's looks on me.

Making sure that I had their attention, I took a deep breath and moved my gaze back onto Pyro and Storm.

"I'll tell you what's going on here... Temporal Tower is falling apart at the very moment we speak. If that tower is completely destroyed, time is going to stop and all live on this planet is going to end," I began to explain, receiving me several gasps from the crowd. "The only way to stop this from happening, is by bringing the Time Gears to the top of the tower and use their energy to restore it... That's the reason why I came to this time."

The crowd took a moment to swallow this revelation.

Before anyone could respond however, Storm spoke up again. "B-but you're wanted! Dusknoir said that-" I interrupted him, a low growl escaping my lips when I had to think about the ghost-type.

"He fooled you... Dusknoir is just the slave of a Dialga that was driven into madness by this disaster," I said with a dead serious look on my face. "The hunt for the Time Gear Thief, the wanted poster... Everything is just a set up to stop the Pokemon that are defying his master."

My gaze moved around the crowd again. Even though some of them were mumbling about a Riolu and the main plaza of Treasure Town, not a single Pokemon showed a hint of doubt on their faces.

The two electric-types in front of me seemed to notice this too. Pyro looked at me with an unsure expression. "I-Is that r-really true?"

I couldn't answer her immediately as another bystanding Pokemon spoke up. "How much time do we have left until time stops?"

"Uhm..." I looked at the Litleo, hesitating for a moment because I didn't know the answer to that. Grovyle had never told me how much time we had to finish our mission or a specific date.

I didn't want to worry those Pokemon so I put on a determined look. "Enough time for me to stop this."

The crowd went silent again after some mumbling, waiting for my next words. A minute of awkward silence followed however as I had no idea what to say.

"Uhm... You can go back to your previous business? I'll handle those two," I said, pointing at Pyro and Storm. "You don't have to worry because of the Time Gears, me, a knight from Alteal and Wigglytuff's Guild are handling the situation."

The mumbling circle around us slowly got smaller, until only the two explorers, the Meowth and myself were left.

"Ehm... You're the Lucario that got into the fight at Lickitung's today, right?" the female normal-type asked while she walked up to me.

"Uhm... Yeah?" I replied.

"He's pretty upset because of the hole in his wall, you should pay him a visit tomorrow," she advised.

I sweatdropped to this. The fight might've started because of me but it hadn't been me who broke down the wall. Technically it was Suke who destroyed it but Cobal was the one who punched him. "Uhm... Okay, I'll talk with him. Now if you'd excuse me..." I waved at her and walked towards Pyro and Storm.

Both of them still seemed to be a little upset because of the commotion.

"So you're the Spirit of Faith? The hero from that folklore from Alteal?" Storm asked, obviously unsure how to talk with me after our fight.

"Yup," I answered before I gave him a stern look. "You don't have to be a hero from a legend to know that it's extremely dangerous to use an attack like that in a town. What were you thinking?"

The Pikachu broke eye-contact. "I'm sorry... I used a move that I hadn't completely mastered yet. We shouldn't have attacked you."

"Apology accepted but don't try to do something like this again," I responded. "Can we talk normally, now that you really know what's going on here?"

"Y-yes... We're sorry. Y-you didn't seem like a bad person in first place but they told us that... Um... the Riolu is an outlaw that likes to deceive her opponents," the Shinx next to him explained.

"Who told you that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She put on her unsure look again. "Um... A Sableye was standing next to the outlaw board when we grabbed your poster."

I sighed. "And let me guess, he told you some bullshit story about the Time Gear Thief, his accomplice and a warning about me talking about Temporal Tower."

"Y-yeah... H-he just said that we should immediately attack you when we hear you starting to talk about it," she answered.

Storm folded his arms and seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "Your explanation makes sense if the energy inside the gears is able to restore the tower somehow... I should've questioned the Sableye a bit more when he simply told us to knock you out on sight."

"Let's forget about this whole thing, okay? I really need to check on my friend," I replied, looking at the building behind the two.

"Wait... Can we make it up to you somehow?" Storm asked with an apologetic look. "We could come with you..."

I considered his offer but shook my head after thinking a little closed about it. "No... My friend is coming with me because it's his duty as a knight but I already got him injured prettty badly. I don't want to pull anymore innocent Pokemon into this."

Pyro turned sad. "Um... Is there really nothing we can do to help you."

Putting my paw up to my chin, I thought about it for a second. 'They could try to spread the word that the hunt for me has been called off but...'

The Darkrai that had attacked Team Work suddenly came to my mind. 'If that thing attacked them because they were helping me then it might attack those two as well... Ugh... What if I just send them back to Treasure Town and they inform everyone they come across on their way back? They'd be on the road for only about a day or two.'

I put my paw back down. "You could head back to Treasure Town and ask Wigglytuff if you can help him somehow. Telling every explorer you come across that the hunt for me has been called off would also be helpful." A serious look wandered onto my face. "Be careful on the road though... I apparently pissed off a Darkrai and it attacked some other explorers that were trying to help me."

Both of them nodded to this. "We can do that."

I responded with a smile. "Thank you... Now that everything is cleared up, can we finally head back into the inn?"

The three of us walked up to the front door of Teky's Inn and stepped through it, closing it behind us after entering the lobby. A surprised looking Buizel was standing behind the reception and greeted us while we walked up to him. "Hello, you three!"

"Hey, Teky," I greeted back before I gave him an apologetic look. "Uhm... Sorry for walking out like that before... I just had a lot on my mind."

He waved his paw at me. "It's no problem. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, that bath worked wonders! I even met some new people there," I said, looking at the two electric-types who were now standing next to me.

"Good to hear that... You still look exhausted though. Do you want something to eat? I can fix something up for you if you want?" the water-type questioned.

As if on cue, my stomach growled furiously. A faint blush wandered onto my cheeks while I rubbed the back of my head. I hadn't eaten anything the whole day afterall. "That would be great!"

The Buizel looked at Pyro and Storm. "Do you two want something too? I can make you a berry salad with some apples."

"Yes, please," the Pikachu replied.

Pyro simply nodded to this with her usual shy expression.

Teky was just about to turn around and head for a door next to the reception when I stopped him. "Hey, uhm... You don't have to make anything fancy for me, just give me a basket with twenty apples or something and I'm satisfied."

He raised an eyebrow. "Twenty?"

A nervous smile appeared on my face. "Is that too much?"

The Buizel shook his head. "N-no! Twenty apples for the Spirit of Faith, coming right up!" With that, he quickly opened the door he had walked up to disappeared into another room. After only a couple of seconds, he came back with a basket full of red apples and placed them in front of me.

"They're on the house," he said with a smile. "After a day like that you deserve something to lift your mood."

I returned a grin. "Thanks a lot!"

Grabbing the basket, I turned to Pyro and Storm while Teky walked back into the other room. "Is it okay for you two if we continue our conversation tomorrow morning? I'll probably stay in my friend's room if he's awake."

They nodded. "Alright. I hope your friend is okay," the Pikachu replied.

"M-me too!" Pyro added.

"Good night, then," I said, waving them good-bye and heading towards the stairs.

"Good night..." the electric-types waved as well while I made my way up to the first floor of the inn.

After reaching the last step, I walked along the hallway and stopped in front of Peon's door.

"Peon? Is everything alright in there?" I asked as I knocked on the wooden door.

"Can't talk! Trying to save an eyeball here! I'll get you when I'm finished!" was the only response I got.

I sighed and let my head fall down slightly. "Okay..."

'She's trying to save his eye... Dammit, what would I do if Cobal lost that eye? A part of this whole mess is my fault after all.'

A slight feeling of guilt was welling up inside of me while I made my way to my own room and opened the unlocked door. In my earlier state I had completely forgotten about taking the key with me.

My gaze moved to the table with all of our gear on it after I closed the door behind me. Shoving some of it away to make myself some space, I placed the basket in my hand on it and sat down onto the chair that had been standing next to the table.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips when my gaze fell upon the red fruits that were now in front of me. "Finally something to eat. I'm starving..."

...

A couple of minutes after I had finished all of my apples, somebody knocked onto my door. A wry smile spread across my face as I assumed that it was Peon, wanting to tell me that she finished to heal Cobal.

"Coming!" Quickly getting off the chair, I walked up to the entrance of my room and opened the wooden door.

"Peon...?"

My eyes widened to the sight of a coat-wearing Dewott. "Hello, beautiful..."

Before I could even think of a way to react, a hard blow flew straight into my stomach and everything turned black.

...

"Ri..."

...

"Riiii..."

...

"It's time to get up."

...

'Ugh...'

As my consciousness slowly returned to me and the blurry sight of my lower body turned sharper, I noticed a strange stiffness from my legs and wrists.

'What happened...?'

I was sitting on a chair, my legs tied to its feet with a piece of rope and my arms tied together behind me. A muzzle was placed over my snout, keeping me from screaming for help. I struggled to get the bindings off me and moved around on my chair but found that my attempts to free myself were futile.

'God dammit! I can't get out of those ropes!'

When I raised my head to see where I was, I found that I was still in my room at the inn. The chair I was tied to had been moved next to my bed and an all too familiar Dewott was leaning onto the wall at the other side of the room.

'Suke... He really is still alive.'

His coat and the black vest he was wearing underneath it were still ripped apart. Most of his body was covered in white bandages and the shells that should've been on his tighs were still missing.

"Look who's awake again..." Suke said, getting off the wall he had been leaning on. "Should I start by telling you how I'm still alive or get straight to why you're still here and not already on a ship to Alteal?"

I glared at him and grunted while he slowly walked up to me. 'That bastard...'

"Not very talktaive, are we?" He chuckled and I could only glare even harder in response. "I'll start with the first one." The water-type cleared his throat. "After your friend managed to hit me with that Zantetsuken, I fainted and well... I would've bled out if a friend hadn't saved me."

'So I was right... Somebody saved him.'

"When I woke up, someone had carried me away from the clearing and bandaged my wounds. The only thing I found when I woke up again was a single piece of paper in front of me," the Dewott continued. "A special phrase that only another Peace Seeker could've known, new instructions and a message were standing on it."

He paused for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. "Tell her."

My eyes widened. 'Tell her?! The Darkrai helped him?'

"Seems to ring a bell, huh? Anyway... Now the reason I'm not going to take you back to Alteal with me is because those new instructions were quite informative. You're lucky... The Peace Seeker's won't go after you this time."

He walked over to the table in my room and picked up Cobal's tattered belt before he took out the Time Gear that had been in one of the pouches. "Although you'd come with me for sure if I took this little Time Gear, my new instructions are to keep any eye on you and make sure that you stay alive until you finish your mission," he said, putting the artifact back into the pouch and placing the belt back on the table.

He turned around to face me again. "So that also answers your question of what I plan on doing next. I'm gonna keep an eye on you so you don't get yourself killed."

A strange smirk suddenly formed on his lips. "But that's actually not what I'm going to do now." The Dewott walked closer to me, his eyes inspecting my tied up form.

"It'd be a shame if I didn't exploit this situation." He stopped right in front of me and leaned his head directly in front of my muzzled snout.

"You being tied up in that chair and all..." His hands suddenly moved down to my thighs, sending a shiver down my spine and causing my breath to stop for a second.

"Completely helpless to anything I might do," he said in a sinister tone, slowly moving his paws up my legs.

"Mmph!" A fearful shriek left my muffled mouth while my eyes widened. 'No! Is he really going to-'

The Dewott's fingers stopped right before they got to the 'danger-zone' and his sinister expression returned to a normal smirk. "You look really cute when you're scared, you know?" he said while he removed his paws and backed off a bit.

I wasn't really sure if I should still be afraid or sigh in relief so I decided to simply glare at him again. 'You fucking pervert. I'd beat you into a pulp right now if I could.'

"Hahaha- Ugh!" A grimace of pain interrupted his laugh and he clutched his stomach with his left arm. "Dammit, the internal damage hasn't fully healed yet. Laughing hurts..."

For some reason, he suddenly put on a concerned expression and placed his right hand on my shoulder. "Listen... I would never do anything like that to you. Women are precious and have to be protected."

I tried to snarl in response. 'Women are precious? You tied me to a chair and molested me, you fucking asshole!'

"Tying you up like that might not make it look like it but I just wanted to help you," he said with an apologetic smile. "I wanted to remember you that you are a woman and that some bad guys out there might really assault you like this. You should be more careful... Especially in your current state. What do you think happens to a female explorer that gets knocked out by outlaws? They don't carry her back to her guild, I can tell you that."

The images that he had put into my head with this caused my eyes to widen yet again. As soon as I tried to focus on them however, a sudden jolt of pain rushed through my skull and blurry memory shreds flashed before my eyes.

_The image of a dark alley._

_The scream of a girl._

_The voice of a man._

_The feeling of pure rage._

_The sound of police sirens._

_Blackness and static._

_..._

Back with the Dewott in front of me, I could simply stare at him with a shocked expression while my mind tried to put together the new information I had just regained.

"W-whoa! Are you alright?" Suke asked, a little startled by the look on my face.

My gaze turned blank and I broke eye-contact with the water-type. I couldn't make out the feeling I was getting when I thought about the images. Everything was just blurry and putting everything together to get a proper picture of whatever happened in that memory wasn't possible for some reason. The only thing I got after some thinking was a blur and a mix of unidentifiable feelings.

"Hellooo? You still in there?" Suke asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

Shaking my head and pushing the thoughts to the back of my mind, I focused on him again and shot him a glare.

He moved away from me a bit and folded his arms. "Sorry, but I wanted to get over a message." The coat-wearing Pokemon scratched his chin and sweatdropped. "Might've done a too good job with that..."

Suke shook his head and seemed to turn serious. "Anyway... There's one last thing I want to talk about before I leave. I don't want you to see me as an enemy so let's start over, okay?"

He held up a thumbs-up and winked at me with a grin. "I'm Suke, I'm 26 years old and I'm the best swordsman you can find among the Peace Seekers. I hope we can get along while I stalk you."

My response was a sweatdrop and a felt minute of awkward silence. 'I hope we can get along while I stalk you? Really?'

"I'll take that as a yes." The water-type suddenly crouched down next to me and slung his left arm around me, pointing into the room with his open, right paw. "Ooh! I can see it already, the two of us fighting bad guys and saving the world! We're gonna be the best buddies!"

Suke laughed and squeezed my shoulders before he backed off and stepped in front of me again. "Just kidding, I'm not risking to get my head chopped off by your knight boy. I'm gonna go now!"

The Dewott slowly made his way to the open window at the right side of my room and hopped into the frame.

"Until next time, J!" he winked at me with one last grin before he jumped out of the outside and left me alone in the room.

'J? What does he-'

"Mmph!" Just like only moments before, my eyes shut tight from a sudden headache and the scene of a memory formed in mind.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 40**

* * *

_Ooh! Cliffhangers. I love em... Especially when it happens right before a memory shred that could possibly return our protagonist's memories. *smirks*  
_

_I struggled with some parts of this chapter but still managed to pull it off somehow. _

_Any guesses on Ri's real name? _

_..._

_Do see now why I considered M-rating? What Suke was doing to Ri wasn't that descriptive but you get what he was doing, right?_

_We also got some pretty harsh info on 'Ri's' past. It's not completely clear what happened this time but you should be able to theorize with that little memory shred._

_I hope some feedback can clear up if this level of description for those kind of scenes can still be put under T-rating._

_Anyway... The next thing to get updated is Soul Gatherer, so stay tuned for that. I'll post a temporary update chapter as usual when I'm finished with it._

_Until next time!_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	42. Artifact? Or a pervert's dream?

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Hello! How's it going?_

_Two months of inactivity? Well..._

_The motivation bursts to writing this story have become a little rare recently. I've mostly been playing around with ideas and working on a better structure for the other SoF Arcs whenever I decided to go on Fanfic. _

_\\[T]/_

_That should somewhat explain the long time it took to finish this chapter._

_Soul Gatherer? Uhm... It's 90% finished. I just couldn't get the motivation to finish those last bits of text. The dialogue is there some things between that is still missing._

_There goes my planning... I'll just write whatever I feel like from now on..._

_Anyway, here's__ the next chapter!_

_(5000 words, have fun!)_

* * *

**Chapter 41 - Artifact? Or a pervert's dream?**

* * *

**~ BGM: Memories of school - Persona 3 (Extended)**

_"Jo, J! What's up?" a female voice called from behind me._

_I turned around and found myself in the hallway of a school. To my left were the doors that led into the classrooms. The wall to my right was covered in big windows. Some students were scattered across the hall._

_In front of me I now had a schoolgirl that seemed to be 13 or 14 years. She was wearing a schooluniform, consisting of a black skirt, a white blouse and the school's standard grey blazer above it. She had long, brown hair that fell down onto her shoulders but for some reason I couldn't completely make out her face... Her eyes seemed to be hidden under a black veil._

_"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? I have a full name, you know..." I pouted in response._

_"Oh, come on, J! That's my nickname for you!" she replied with a smile. "What are you doing after school? We could get something to eat if you're free today."_

_"Sorry, Elly... I have training today. The next tournament is in a couple of weeks and I want to win this year again," I said with an apologetic look._

_Elly turned concerned. "Hey, I know that you're trying to distract yourself from what happened during summer vacation but too much training can be a bad thing too. Why don't you try to relax just for once?"_

_"I..." A feeling of sadness and regret welled up inside of me for some reason._

_"Remember that you can always come to me when you need someone to talk with... I'm your best friend for a reason, you know," the girl continued._

_A wry smile spread across my face. "Thank you, Elly... I think I can skip training today. Let's grab something to eat after school."_

_"Great!" she beamed, returning a smile of her own. "There's a new restaurant in the shopping district we could check out!"_

_"Yeah, I heard about it but... Uhm... I don't think you can get something proper to eat there. They only sell waffles and ice cream," I replied before I turned a bit nervous. "Remember what happened last time I ate too many sweets?"_

_"Oh, right... The only weakness of the infamous blackhole stomach." Elly folded her arms. "I still have no clue why you can eat whatever you want and don't get any weight... Unless it's sweets that is."_

_I grinned at her. "Maybe it's magic?"_

_The sound of a ringing bell suddenly echoed through the hallway._

_"Break is already over, huh?" Elly said with a slight frown. "Well... I guess we can decide where to go after school..." She smiled again. "Let's get back to class, J!"_

_Something was off while she turned around._

**~ Stop music**

_Static spread from the corners of my vision and blurry images were flashing before me while my headache turned worse and worse._

_"Hey, J! Back from your training?"_

_"J? Can I borrow your textbook?"_

_"Oh, dammit! We're late for school, J!"_

_"Do you have a partner for the project yet, J?"_

_"J?"_

_"J!"_

_"Hey, J!"_

_The voice increased in volume with every memory shred and my skull began to feel like it was tearing apart. The pain almost became unbearable, and my brain seemed to burst out of my head until..._

* * *

"Mmph!" Ri's eyes snapped open as the onslaught of memories ended.

She was back in her room at Teky's Inn, still muzzled and tied to a chair. The Lucario was breathing heavily through her nose for a moment, trying to calm her racing heart.

When the headache slowly faded and her body had somewhat calmed down again, she began to sort out the new information in her mind.

A thoughtful expression wandered onto Ri's face. She had seen her school and now remembered her best friend. Although it was only her voice and a blurry image of her face, Ri knew that a girl called Elly was her best friend when she had been human.

'I remember her... And school too, and... God dammit, how could I forget her? How could I forget my family and friends?'

The Lucario turned somewhat sad as some guilt welled up inside of her for forgetting everyone she had known as a human. She had hoped that remembering Elly might've gotten her some kind of connection to memories of her family but as usual, her mind only drew a blank when she tried to think of those topics.

'She was talking about something that happened during summer vacation... Was it what I saw in that other shred? That dark alley?' Remembering exactly what had happened wasn't possible... She could tell that it must've been something bad but the vague images and voices she had heard only let her speculate about it.

Ri went to probably the most important information that had been revealed to her.

'J, huh?' she thought, letting the letter ring through her mind a couple of times. J... This was the first letter of her real name and the nickname her best friend Elly had given to her. She tried to guess the rest of her name by going over every name with a "J" she could remember but none of them felt right.

(A/N: Not even the readers that sent me a message with their guesses got it right. *victorious smirk*)

After failing to get anything that sounded right to her, she decided to keep her name Ri for now and think further about the topic once she could talk with Cobal or one of her other friends.

Letting out a sigh, she looked at the open window to her right. 'So Suke wants to help me? Ugh, I'm not sure if I'm happy with this. According to him, the Darkrai is one of the Peace Seekers but it caused so much trouble already. How am I supposed to know whether they're on our side or not?'

She let out another sigh. 'I guess two of my objectives have become one. Finding out more about the Peace Seekers is now also finding out more about this Pokemon.'

Ri suddenly realized that something had been bugging her at the back of her mind while she had gone over everything.

The girl felt... strange... She couldn't quite put a finger on it but something was different. Something inside of her seemed to have disappeared or changed. The Lucario just couldn't tell what is was. 'What is this feeling? Maybe my mind is clearing up because I had so many memory shreds recently... Yeah, that could be it.'

It took her a while to sort out the new information and all the feelings she got from her recent memory shreds but once she was done and able to focus again, the fighting-type inspected her bindings to find a way out of them. 'God dammit, Suke... You couldn't have freed me before you jumped out of the window, could you? Ugh...'

A simple rope normally wouldn't have been a problem to break out of but the potion she had to drink earlier not only blocked her aura, it also somewhat restricted her physical strength. Even with using all the strength she could bring up, her bindings would hold and keep her tied to the chair.

'Come on, there has to be a way out of these ropes.' Ri looked around the room to find something she could do or use to get free. Calling for help wouldn't work with the muzzle around her snout. She considered the two swords on the table on her left but even if she hopped to the table in her chair, the blades were out of her reach as she couldn't lean forward.

The only option she was left with after inspecting everything, was to wait for somebody to free her. Ri hated to be saved though... She didn't want to be a damsel in distress...

Ri let out an annoyed grunt for having to wait for who knew how long but it only took about a minute until something happened.

A knock was coming from the door and the doorknob klicked, however, the door didn't open as it had been locked.

"Ri? Are you-" Teky's voice called from outside the door but he abruptly stopped for some reason, putting a desperate expression onto Ri's face. She tried to cry for help but the muzzle only let low grunts escape her lips.

"Do not disturb? Hmm... I guess she went to sleep." Some footsteps could be heard outside and the Lucario was left alone once again.

'How is he not hearing me?!'

Ri let out a muffled scream of frustration when she realized what must've Suke done and cursed at the Pokemon that was the reason for her current situation. 'He locked the door?! Motherf-'

...

Meanwhile, a Dewott in a torn-up, black coat was walking through the jungle that surrounded Nagi Village.

'Should I have told her that I locked her door, put a "Do not disturb" sign on her doorknob and cast a sound-barrier on it with a Silence Orb?' He had a thoughtful expression on his face for a moment.

"Naah..." Suke said to himself before he burst out in laughter.

"Ack!" He winced in pain. "Laughing still hurts..."

...

Back at the inn, Ri was squirming in her chair in an attempt to somehow get out of her bindings. 'How the fuck am I supposed to get out of here if the door is locked?! They'll probably wait till tomorrow morning until they decide to get another key from Teky or break the door open.'

She hopped around in hope of getting somebody's attention through the noise. What she didn't know, was that Suke's sound barrier kept all the sound locked inside the room and all of her effort was in vain. What she did accomplish though, was to accidentally cause the chair and herself, to fall to her left and land on the floor with a muffled grunt of pain. 'God dammit!'

The Lucario was dazed for a moment and blinked a couple of times before she noticed that the impact had caused Cobal's belt, which had been placed on the table to her left, to drop onto the ground as well.

A turquoise Time Gear, that slightly peeked out from one of the torn pouches, immediately came to Ri's attention. She weighed her options while she looked at the artifact that was now only a few inches in front of her snout.

'The Time Gear... If I could somehow use it to go to another timeline again then... But what if everything gets messed up and... Ugh! Don't think about it! Do it!'

She slowly nudged herself towards the gear. When it was in reach, Ri closed her eyes, prepared herself for the worst and touched it with her chin... only to find that nothing was happening upon doing so. 'Huh?'

The Lucario blinked and turned slightly confused by this. Last time she had touched the gear, she had immediately been hit by a white light and dizziness. But now...

'Uhm... Is it broken or something?'

She remembered Cobal's theory about not being affected by the energy of the artifact because of absorbing some of it during her first contact. 'Cobal might've been right... It's not affecting me anymore.'

A frown wandered onto her face while she exhaled in frustration. 'How am I supposed to get out of here if it doesn't work?'

She tried to get her right paw into her view but the way her arms were tied behind her back didn't allow that to happen. The symbol on the back of her right hand could've told her if the Time Gear was at least doing something.

'I swear to god, Suke...'

Ri grunted again and focused her view onto the gear in front of snout.

'There has to be something I can do with you, you stupid thing.' An idea popped into her head. 'Maybe I can activate the timeline thing if I focus some aura into you.'

She put on a determined expression, placed her chin back on top of the artifact and began to focus on her aura. 'Come on, please work!' Although it felt as if she had to pump a thick liquid through her body to get it there, a small flame of blue energy radiated from her chin and slowly seeped into the Time Gear.

It started to glow in a dim green light and Ri felt light headed for a second when a pulse of strange energy shot out from the gear. The whole room suddenly seemed to be overlain by a green, somewhat transparent glow. It looked as if she was seeing two versions of the same room.

'What is this...?'

Before she could try to understand what was going on however, the green version of the door suddenly opened and a Pokemon stepped inside.

Ri's eyes slightly widened when she met the sight of a Lucario with a black burn mark on it's left arm that ran all the way to its shoulder and a basket full of apples in it's right one. The red-eyed fighting-type had a curled tuft of ruffled fur between its ears that looked similar to Ri's but pointed upwards instead of falling down onto its forehead.

The green, glowing Lucario was equally shocked and stared at the tied up girl on the ground with wide opened eyes.

"Uhm..." the other Lucario started with a male voice. "What the fuck?"

The deep voice immediately threw Ri off but as she couldn't lose her focus on the Time Gear she forced herself to ignore the realization her other self's gender.

Ri tried to say "Help me!" but only brought out a grunt while she struggled to keep up the radiating aura on her chin.

Her male version blinked and kept staring for a moment until he snapped out of it and placed the basket in his arms onto the table next to them. "Y-yeah! Of course!"

The green, transparent Lucario crouched down next to Ri and reached out to remove the muzzle around her snout, however, before he could do so, Ri grunted again and indicated him to untie her arms first with her eyes. Removing her muzzle would've broken her contact with the gear under her chin and probably ended whatever Ri was doing at at the moment.

He flinched in response and took a second to understand what she was trying to say. "O-okay."

"You're from another timeline, right?" the other Lucario said, beginning to untie the rope that bound Ri's arms to the chair. "You glow in a green light and you're transparent... Just like Cobali described it with me back at Fogbound Lake."

'Cobali?' Ri almost lost her focus when she understood that Cobali must've been this timeline's female version of Cobal and a mental image formed in her head.

As the male Lucario continued to free her, he inspected the tied up Pokemon a little closer and raised an eyebrow. "Wow... Do I really have hips like that? They are even bigger than Grovyle's..."

Ri tried to grunt in annoyance but keeping up the flow of aura was getting harder with every moment that passed. She closed one of her eyes and bit through the exhaustion while her other self finished to free her arms.

The Lucario was just about to move down to her legs when he noticed something and his eyes widened. "Wait... You _are _a gir-"

Ri's flow of aura broke up and her other other self and the green glowing version of the room immediately vanished before he could finish his sentence.

Ri was left alone once again, heavily breathing through her nose and trying to regain her bearings. Now that her arms were free, she could finally remove the muzzle that kept her from talking.

"God dammit!" she said, pulling the piece of leather off her snout.

She pushed her upper body up with her arms and looked down at the Time Gear. "What the hell was that? Why was I a guy in that timeline?'

For a whole minute, the Lucario was trying to figure out the whole timeline topic in general. The final conclusion she decided to put up was that there must've been an infinite amount of timelines. Some of them must've been pretty much the same as hers and some must've been drastically different because certain events were happening differently, therefore changing a lot more in the process.

A timeline where she didn't end up with Grovyle, a timeline where she decided to tell Riley and Ozu the truth, a timeline where she didn't lose her memories... All of these possibilities made sense to her...

But having a different gender and still ending up at the exact same place at the same time? It was absurd to the human-turned Pokemon.

'Did I just get born like that there or did something cause me to become a guy?'

A scenario, where Ditto's enhanced warp orb not only teleported her away from Limestone Cavern but also swapped her gender in the process, played out in her mind for a moment, sending a shiver down her spine after she was finished. 'Ugh... Not sure if I could've handled that.'

She shook her head and focused again.

It took her a while but after some struggle, Ri had managed to free her legs and was back on her feet with the Time Gear in her left hand.

Her gaze moved to the back of her right paw, which she was holding out in front of her. The turquoise, gear-shaped symbol was glowing. She didn't feel an headache or any dizziness like usual though. 'So I can active the Time Gear with my aura,' she thought, somewhat reliefed that the potion Peon had given to her was slowly beginning to lose its effect. 'But what exactly did I do? It didn't seem like I was going to another timeline... It... It felt more like I was pulling that other timeline into mine.'

Ri put the gear down for a second and found out that the symbol on her paw disappeared. 'It's gone? Huh... I guess it only appears when I actually touch the gear now.' She shook her head. 'Anyway... Back to the timeline thing.'

The Lucario remembered what had happened back at Fogbound Lake. She had a different look on the event with the new knowledge she had gained now. 'Now that I think about it... In the timeline back at Fogbound Lake I was apparently in two timelines at the same time. Maybe because I didn't fully pull the timeline into mine or... maybe because I pulled in too much of it...'

She was getting slightly confused but decided to do a little experiment to test her theory of "Timeline Pulling".

Ri picked up the artifact and the symbol at the back of her right paw reappeared. 'I'm gonna try it again! Worst that could happen is that I lose the focus on my aura and the pull ends.'

The Lucario focused her aura into the Time Gear and just like earlier, after a short wave of dizziness, Ri's room was overlapped with a green glowing version of itself.

Ri looked around. 'Nobody is here... I guess this is either a timeline where I'm not on my room yet or one where I got another room than this one...'

She lost her focus and everything turned back to normal. She waited a moment to get over her exhaustion and gazed down at the gear in her paw. 'Well, let's try again and see if I get something else.'

And with another wave of dizziness, the room was covered in green once again.

This time, however, a green, transparent Piplup was in the room with the Lucario.

"Uhm..." A nervous smile spread across Ri's face while the water-type noticed her and freaked out. Before the penguin-like Pokemon could scream however, Ri's focus broke up again and the other timeline faded in the blink of an eye.

'I invaded somebody else's room... Great.' Ri was panting hard by now. Pulling out so much aura in her current state left her rather exhausted.

'I'll try one last time. After that I'll go and see Cobal.' Forcing out the remaining aura she could bring forth, Ri focused one final time and the room turned green.

When the dizziness faded and she was able to inspect her surrounding, the Lucario immediately froze. 'Oh... my god...'

In front of her, inside her bed, a Grovyle and a Riolu were lying on top of each other, moaning loudly as their bodies-

The timeline faded into nothing as the scene had managed to instantly break Ri's focus.

The Lucario was still staring at her now empty bed and regaining her breath while a nervous chuckle left her lips and a small tickle of blood slowly ran down her snout. As if a normal crush on the grass-type wasn't enough already, she now also had to deal with the knowledge that in another timeline, where Grovyle and her most likely went to Nagi Village before heading into the Southern Jungle, she was actually sleeping with him.

'Yup... I'm going to die from embarrassment if I ever see him again.'

Wiping away the blood on her nose and waiting for the blush on her cheeks to die down, she tried to push the inappropriate images out of her head... But failed miserably as they had probably branded themselves into her mind forever.

'Alright... So there's a timeline where I'm sleeping with Grovyle... No big deal... She is technically not me... She made different decisions than I did.'

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the human-turned Pokemon looked down at the artifact in her paw and growled at it. She had hoped to get to a timeline with a version of herself that still had intact memories... But the only thing she gained was more awkwardness between Grovyle and her.

'This thing is more of a tool for perverts than an ancient artifact...' Ri shook her head at the inappropriate idea but unawarely chuckled to herself. _'God knows what would happen if this kind of power fell into the wrong hands.'_

The Spirit of Faith definitly had enough of other timelines for now. The ability to actually pull timelines into her own was nice to have but the randomness of it made it pretty useless in her eyes. She had to figure out if she could control which timeline she would pull in order to turn it useful for her.

'No more distractions, I'm going to see Cobal right now.' Ri turned around and picked up her belt, placing the Time Gear inside of one of the pouches.

She then put it around her waist and stared down at her equipment. 'I'm not gonna leave the Time Gear alone in an unlocked room again, that's for sure. This thing stays with me from now on.'

The Lucario decided to take Cobal's more important gear with her so she grabbed his tattered belt from the floor and his sword from the table, placing both of them in her right hand.

Ri walked up to her door and unlocked it, putting the key into one of her pouches after she pulled it out of the keyhole.

She made her way through the empty hallway that was lit up by a couple of candles that were placed along the walls and stopped in front of Peon's door. The girl quickly noted that it had become nighttime as only a faint glow of moonlight was shining through the window at the end of the corridor. She must've been out for a while after Suke knocked her out.

"Pe-!" Ri was just about to knock on the door when it suddenly opened and a green-eyed Audino stepped into the doorframe.

Peon was a little startled as she hadn't expected Ri to stand right in front of her door. "Oh! Hey, Ri," she greeted.

Ri noticed that the normal-type seemed to be extremely exhausted before she replied. "Hello... How is he?" she asked, looking into the Audino's room to see an unconscious Lucario that was covered in bandages and a blanket in Peon's bed.

Peon sighed and turned around to look at Cobal. "He's gonna make it."

A smile of relief wandered onto Ri's face as a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Cobal was still alive.

"I managed to mend all of his injuries but two wounds were too severe to close without leaving any signs. He's gonna have a scar on his chest and..." Peon hesitated for a moment, giving Ri a moment to brace herself for the next information. "He won't be able to see with his left eye anymore."

Ri's eyes widened. "Oh fuck..." Her gaze swayed back and forth between Cobal and the Audino in front of her. "He... He really lost an eye?"

"I managed to heal it but... It was too damaged to save his sight," she replied with a frown.

Silence was hanging in the air for a moment until Peon spoke up again. "Anyway, what happened to get him hurt in the first place?"

Ri sighed. "Where am I supposed to start? Well... After I went looking for him, I met a Dewott called Suke who invited me to a date. We went to Lickitung's Gourmet but before we could actually get to eat something, Cobal busted in through the door and straight up punched him through on of the walls. I followed them outside and found out that Suke was actually part of an organisation that is trying to kidnap me. The two them fought and well... That's how Cobal got injured."

Peon had to process all of this for a moment before she responded. "What happened to the Dewott, was he injured as well?"

"Yes, he was... But right after their battle he just disappeared somehow." The Lucario frowned as the next part of her story was... Uncomfortable. "He is okay though... After I took a bath and had some dinner at my room, somebody suddenly knocked onto my door and knocked me out. When I woke up again, I was tied to a chair and Suke was there. He explained that a friend helped him and then he jumped out of the window."

Peon raised an eyebrow. "I thought he wanted to kidnap you?"

The Lucario sighed again. "Yeah, but apparently that friend of his made him change his plans... He's just gonna stalk me now."

It took the Audino another short moment to process the new information. "When did all of that happen? It has only been a few hours since you brought the knight here."

"I actually got out of the bindings just a few minutes ago and immediately headed to your room," Ri answered.

"How did you do that?" Peon asked.

The Lucario didn't want to confuse her with her little Time Gear experiment so she kept her answer vague. "Your potion is already losing its effect so I was able to use some aura to get myself free."

"I see..." the normal-type folded her arms and seemed to go over everything again when a mischievous smirk suddenly spread across her face. "So did you finish your date with the Dewott then? You were alone in your room, right?"

The Lucario immediately blushed. "God dammit, why-" Ri stopped there as she suddenly felt an urge to counter Peon's inappropriate question. She didn't know if it would work on the Audino or not but for some reason she decided to turn the fact of being molested into ammunition for their "argument".

_'So she wants to screw with me again, huh? Let's see how far she's willing to go before the sex topic gets even embarrassing for her. She's still only 13 after all...'_

Ri returned a smirk. "Actually... Yeah, we did."

The Audino was caught off guard by Ri's sudden change in attitude. "R-really?!"

_'Gotcha...' _She leaned down, next to the normal-type's ear and began whisper. "It's pretty exciting when you're tied to a chair and a guy slowly moves his hands up your thighs. I won't go into detail of what happened next but you should try it when you're old enough."

Peon's reaction, which was a completely red face and incoherent stuttering, sent a victorious grin across Ri's face. When she leaned back, she realized what she had just done and turned embarrassed herself. 'Wait... What did I just say?'

Ri shrugged it off and looked at Peon again, who had recovered from Ri's implications.

"Uhm... Sorry about that," the Lucario apologized, rubbing the back of her head.

"Did he really...?" Peon asked with a curious look.

"The first part, yes. But he backed off again after that," Ri explained. "Let's just forget about this, okay? Can I see Cobal now?"

"Yeah, sure... But I kinda need a bed to sleep now," the Audino responded. "Can you give me the key to Cobal's room? I'll just sleep there."

"Oh! Of course..." Ri replied and looked through the tattered pouches on Cobal's belt. She luckily found the key she was looking for and handed it over to the normal-type. "Here you go."

Peon stepped into the hallway and indicated Ri to go to her friend. "I'll just ask the inn-keeper which room he has. Get me if anything happens."

"Okay..." The Lucario walked into the room and gave the Audino a thankful look. "Thank you."

Peon smiled. "No problem."

And with that, Ri closed the door and turned around to face the bandaged Lucario in Peon's bed.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 41**

* * *

_Yup... We'll be following Ri from the third person from now on._

_Why?_

_*smirks*_

_Well, let's just say that even the point from which this story is told has some kind of relevance to the plot._

_..._

_So we saw some more of Ri's past. Any theories about the dark alley thing yet?_

_..._

_Timeline Pulling... The first time-travel related ability the Spirit of Faith has. Visual-wise, it's pretty similar to what Elizabeth from Bioshock:Infinite does whenever she opens a tear._

_Funny how there are infinite possible timelines. What we saw in this Chapter is not even a tiny bit from what I have in store. I'm sure Celebi could give us some details on the whole topic if... Oh..._

_..._

_Next up: Chapter 42 - Niobi_

* * *

**_Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!_**


	43. Niobi

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Hello, everyone!_

_Long time no see, I know... But can you believe that it has almost been two years since I published this story? **Two years?!**_

_I've put the recent bursts of motivation to use and finished up this chapter for you. Length wise it's in the top three with 11.700 words! _

_Compensation for the long wait? *rubs back of head*_

_Hope you'll enjoy it!_

* * *

**Chapter 42 - Niobi**

* * *

Ri inspected Peon's room while she slowly stepped up to the unconscious Lucario in the bed. It looked pretty much the same as her own room but the placement of the furniture was mirrored. Upon entering, Cobal's bed could be seen at the left side of the room along with a nightstand that was placed next to it. There was a table with two chairs next to the door and window on the opposite wall. On the right side of the room, she could see a single closet. The moonlight that was shining in from the window wasn't much but still enough to see without the need of a light source. Alongside the furniture, she noticed a small chest and two books on the nightstand.

Upon reaching the side of the bed, Ri looked down at Cobal and gave his bandaged form a closer look.

The Lucario's head was placed on a white pillow and his lower body was covered by a white blanket. His arms, chest and the left side of his head were wrapped up in bandages.

Ri frowned at the barely noticeable red spot under the bandages above his left eye. 'God dammit.'

Letting out a sigh, the human-turned Pokemon placed Cobal's belt and sword onto the table behind her, grabbed one of the chairs and sat down next to the bed.

For a while she just stared at him with an expression of deep thought. There was so much she had to tell him and so much to thank him for once he woke up again. Ri wanted to help her partner somehow but at the time, everything she could do was to wait.

She just kept watching while his blanket raised and lowered with each little breath he made. 'I'm sorry, Cobal... All of this happened because you wanted to stick around with me.'

Guilt began to rid her mind as she recalled something the knight had said to her during his fight with Suke.

_"What kind of knight would I be if I couldn't protect my comrades?"_

To Ri, protecting a comrade was a two-way deal. Cobal was her comrade just as much as she was his.

'I should've been stronger... All of this wouldn't have happened if I had been stronger. If I had beaten Dusknoir back at Crystal Cave then not only Grovyle, Riley and Ozu would be safe, Cobal would never have been dragged into this in the first place.'

While she kept thinking about all the things she could've prevented, the need to become stronger formed inside of her. Whether it be by regaining her memories or gaining some new strength, it didn't matter to her. She never wanted to see somebody close to her in state like that ever again.

_'I have to get stronger.'_ The girl unawarely grinned to herself._ 'Then I'll be able to fight more powerful opponents... and protect my friends.'_

Ri pushed the feeling aside for now and focused her gaze back onto the unconscious Lucario next to her. "I'm sorry, Cobal..."

For the next hour she just sat there and talked to him, even though he couldn't hear her.

She told him about Pyro and Storm, the villagers and Suke... About all of the deductions she made during her bath. About her memory shreds, Elly and everything she remembered from the human world in general.

And as time passed, and the room slowly turned darker, she also turned more and more tired... She couldn't even resist when her arms and head slumped onto the bed and slumber overtook her in the middle of a sentence.

* * *

**The next morning...**

* * *

When Cobal slowly regained his consciousness, he immediately noticed two things. Firstly, his chest and left eye were hurting like hell. Secondly, he was lying inside of a bed.

It took a while for his senses to fully return but he could make out that a faint noise of snoring was coming from his right.

"Ngh..." The knight tried to open his eyes but only managed to open his right one as the left side of his face instantly lit up with pain when he tried to move his eyelid. He flinched at the stinging and had to blink a couple of times before the blurry image he received from his right eye began to sharpen.

A wooden ceiling entered his restricted view. Slowly remembering what had happened before he had woken up in this bed, the fighting-type tried to moved his head to further inspect his surroundings. When the Lucario took a look around the room he was in, he could tell that he was back at Teky's Inn. A dim, orange-colored ray of sunlight was shining through the window to his left, indicating that the sun must've risen only moments ago.

"Mph... Stop it, Elly... Those are my fries..." A familiar voice said in between murmurs and snores. "Get your own, god dammit..."

Although it caused a lot of pain, he moved his head to put the source of the noise into his view.

The knight met the sight of a sleeping Lucario in a chair next to his bed. She was facing away from him and her head and arms were rested on top of the blanket that covered his lower body, right next to his right paw.

"R... Ri...?" Cobal's throat wasn't very responsive, so he only managed to bring out faint whispers.

His only response was a twitch of her ear and more mumbling. "I'll take another, please..."

Cobal decided to leave her be for the moment and attempted to get into a sitting position. With some struggle and few grunts of pain, he managed to push the pillow underneath him against the wall behind the bed and leaned against it, lifting his head a little higher.

He luckily couldn't feel most of the cuts he had gained during his battle but some sore spots underneath the bandages on his upper arms and chest stung whenever he moved.

The Lucario brought his attention back to the sleeping girl to his right. Carefully lifting his right paw up to her head, he tapped onto her snout a few times in an attempt to wake her.

She shifted her head in response, causing Cobal's paw to brush against her left ear and the fur behind it. His paw flinched back as her whole body stiffened for some reason.

...

Ri's eyes snapped open and the image of a white blanket entered her view. She had been asleep but an a strange feeling of comfort had ripped her out of her slumber.

Slowly raising her head to inspect her surroundings, she quickly realized that she must've fallen asleep in her chair.

As her eyes moved around the room, the girl noticed that a bandaged Lucario was staring at her with a strangely nervous expression.

His hand was pretty close to her head and the lingering feeling behind her ear told her that this Lucario must've been the reason for her awakening.

"D-did you just pet me?" she asked, not even realizing that it was Cobal she was talking to.

She was still half asleep and completely focused on the sensation. The thin line of drool that was still hanging down from her mouth was a very clear sign that she hadn't fully woken up yet.

"I-I brushed against your ear when you moved..." he replied with some struggle, seeming to sweat for some reason.

The half-asleep Ri sat up and leaned closer to him. "Do it again."

He just stared at her with a dumb fold look for a moment before he responded. "I-I'd rather not..."

"Why not?" she asked, her expression turning into a frown.

He broke eye-contact and seemed to be embarrassed all of a sudden. "Ehm... Among our species, petting one another is a rather intimate sign of affection that is usually used by couples..."

This information slowly but surely woke her up and put a faint blush onto her cheeks while she wiped the drool off her face. 'Oh... So it's kinda embarrassing to do that... I should really learn more about the customs of my species if I don't want to embarrass myself again... Maybe Cobal can-'

Her eyes widened and she fully regained her senses. "Cobal! You're awake!" she cheered in a mix of happiness and relief. The desire of being pet again and her blush were immediately forgotten as she was now completely focused on her partner.

At first the knight was slightly confused by her sudden change in attitude but after getting over this little accident, he smiled back at her. "Morning."

"Uhm... Yeah, morning..." she replied, rubbing the back to her head.

Awkward silence was hanging in the air for a moment until Cobal spoke up again with a serious look. "What happened?"

A slight look of distaste appeared on Ri's face while she began to explain what had happened while he had been out cold. "You defeated Suke but fell unconscious afterwards. I carried you back to the inn so Peon could heal you and..."

* * *

**Fifteen minutes later...**

* * *

"So let me get this straight... Celsius and all the other members were attacked by a Darkrai, which is a member of the Peace Seekers. This Darkrai also rescued Suke after our battle and told him to stalk you from now on... You also met two explorers who attacked you after they found out who you were but changed their mind when the villagers ganked up on them and told them that you are the Spirit of Faith. And you figured out that you are able to use the Time Gear to pull other timelines into ours," Cobal summarized after a rather tedious explanation from Ri.

"That's pretty much it, yeah..." Ri confirmed. "I guess you still have a lot of questions though..."

"Yes..." the knight replied in a serious tone. "Did you try to contact Celsius yet? She should've woken up by now if she was only knocked out."

"Yeah... I'm sure you noticed that I spaced out for a second when I told you about her. She didn't response..." she answered with a somewhat dishearted look.

"I see..." Cobal noticed her worries and decided to quickly ask his next question to distract her. "What about those two explorers, what did you do after you went back to the inn?"

"Oh, I told them to head back to Treasure Town and help out Wigglytuff there," Ri explained. "They're also gonna inform each exploration team they come across that the hunt for me has been called off." She smiled. "Means we at least have one thing less to worry about."

The bandaged Lucario nodded. "Okay... About Suke... Are you sure he didn't do anything to you while you were tied to that chair?"

Ri turned a bit nervous as she hadn't been very specific when she told him about her rather uncomfortable conversation with the Peace Seeker. The tension between Cobal and Suke had already been bad enough and she didn't want to make it worse.

"Nothing too serious... He just scared me a bit..." She broke eye-contact and baled her paw in a fist in front of her while an angry expression wandered onto her face. "But I'll pay him back when we see him again, don't worry," she said, putting her paw back down.

Cobal wasn't fully convinced but didn't question her about the topic any further. "Could you explain how this 'Timeline Pulling' ability works?"

"I'm not too sure myself... I guess the Time Gear just pulls in a random timeline and that's it. We can try it out when you're fit again." The Lucario gave him another smile. "Are you okay with that?"

Cobal's uncovered eye widened for some reason. He just stared at her with a surprised look but shook his head when he noticed that Ri turned a bit confused. "Y-yeah... Of course... What about those memory shreds? Did you remember anything important?"

Ri brought her paw up to her chin. "Well... I remembered my old school and my best friend Elly from the human world, for one..."

"Elly?" Cobal repeated, remembering her mumbling from earlier. "You were talking in your sleep... You said something about an Elly eating your... Err... I think you called it fries."

Ri raised an eyebrow. "I did?"

Memories of sitting inside of a diner with Elly surfaced from her mind. "I-I did! I remember! She always ate my fries when we ate somewhere!" she cheered. Those memories hadn't come with the usual headache.

It seemed strange to her at first but after thinking about it for a second, her smile became even wider. 'Maybe my mind really is clearing up again!'

"Uuh... What is fries?" Cobal asked, regaining her attention.

Ri wanted to answer but only open her mouth and stopped again as she realized that she had no idea what fries are. "Uhm... I don't remember... I guess it's some sort of food from my world."

"I see..." Cobal seemed to be lost in thought for second before he shook his head and faced her. "Anything else?"

"I also remember a part of my real name," she continued with a faint smile. "It's only the first letter but I remember that Elly used to call me J."

"J?" he repeated with a thoughtful expression.

Ri nodded. "Yeah..."

"So what am I supposed to call you now?" the knight asked.

She put her left paw up to her chin thought about it for a second. J technically was a nickname like Ri. Ever since Ozu had given the name to her, she always had seen herself as Ri. Even before she had discovered that Riley wasn't her name, she had somewhat bonded with it.

"I don't know..." she finally answered, bringing down her paw and facing Cobal again. "Call me whichever one you prefer but as long as I don't remember my real name, I'll stick with Ri."

"I will stick to Ri as well then," Cobal replied.

Ri gave him a nervous smile. "Unless we come across some explorers though... J wouldn't raise any suspicion if they haven't heard yet that Wigglytuff and Magnezone called off the hunt."

"Understood... J when we are in public, Ri when we are alone," he responded.

"Uhm... There's one last thing I remembered... It's... It's about a Darkrai," Ri said with a slight look of distaste as her memory shreds played out in her mind. "Do you know anything about a fight between a Darkrai and the Spirit of Faith? Because I remembered a Darkrai that had a 50.000 Poke bounty on its head. I stopped him from going to the human world."

"No, sorry... I don't think that there's a Darkrai mentioned in any of the stories about you," Cobal answered. "Maybe you did it in another time?"

_'So I haven't done that yet, huh?' _Ri unawarely pushed all of her worries aside and focused.

An expression, similar to Grovyle's whenever he had been in his "detective-mode", wandered onto Ri's face while she folded her arms. "I might've done it in another time but if there aren't any records about a fight with that thing then that can only mean that I did it in the future..."

"So...?" The bandaged Lucario was a little confused by the way she spoke. For some reason she seemed to be a completely different person all of a sudden. He even could've sworn that her eyes had suddenly changed from a deep red to a red-violet tone.

She moved her head a bit to put the knight at the corner of her view. "The reason I'm able to travel through time is the disaster we are currently trying to stop. So all of my appearances in the past will actually be in the future from my point of view."

"What are you getting at?" Cobal returned, still unsure of what she was trying to say.

"In all of my memory-shreds, I'm not able to travel through time yet, correct?" Ri asked, trying to make it easier for him to follow her. "If there aren't any records about this Darkrai and me in the past then it must definitely come from the future. And since I remember it from a point where I couldn't have been in another time yet, then that can only mean that I'm from the future as well."

The other Lucario nodded with a still somewhat confused look after processing her words for a moment. "So you're from the future like Grovyle and Riley?"

"If we exclude the possibility of being from another timeline, then yes." A serious look wandered onto Ri's face. "There's also the possibility that I'm from another timeline entirely. The incident that happened back at Treeshroud Forest could've transported me from my original timeline into this one."

"But you've appeared numerous times in the past, how could you-" Cobal's quirk of realizing questions while he asked them showed up again.

"If I gain the ability to jump from timeline to timeline during this whole incident then all of my appearances in the past are simply me, coming into this timeline in another point in time," she explained, turning back to him. "The discovery of other timelines brought up a lot more question we have to figure out somehow."

She leaned her elbows onto the side of the bed and used her now intertwined fingers to support her chin. "Anyway... Thinking too much into this with the few clues we have right now won't get us any further. Let's talk about the whole time-travel thing again when I show you those other timelines," she said, finishing her deductions. "I'm sure you still have some other questions."

The bandaged Lucario was silent for a moment before a look of distaste wandered onto his face. "Yes... Do you know anything about my eye?"

Ri's eyes widened a bit to that and her expression turned sad. All of the calmness and strange self-confidence she had just felt moments earlier were like blown away.

Cobal immediately noticed this too... The sudden change in her personality still confused him a bit but he decided to let it pass.

"Y-yeah..." Bringing herself to continue was rather difficult as the feeling of guilt inside her returned. "Peon managed to heal it... But she couldn't save your sight... You won't be able to see with it anymore," she explained, bringing her paws back down.

Cobal just stared at her as he took in the information. After a minute of silence, he leaned back into his pillow and looked up at the ceiling.

"Fuck," he said, carefully bringing his left paw up to the bandaged side of his face.

Ri didn't know what to say as she had never seen the knight like this since he had joined her on her mission. The girl wanted to cheer him up but the feeling of guilt was eating her up inside, making it rather difficult to come up with anything that could've lifted the one-eyed Lucario's mood.

Some of the more brutal memories of the recent fight between Cobal and Suke flashed through her mind. 'I could've stopped this...' The way the left side of her partner's face had been cut up was especially hard for her to handle. 'It's my fault...'

"I'm sorry," she said, gritting her teeth and baling her paws into fists.

The Lucario looked at her again.

"It's my fault..." she continued while tears slowly formed at the corners of her overshadowed eyes. "This was supposed to be my fight... He was after me, not you. If I hadn't taken that stupid potion... I... If I had been stronger..."

"Don't blame yourself for my decision to protect you," Cobal interrupted her, causing the Lucario to face him with teary eyes. "Ri, I would've given my life for you."

Her eyes widened yet again and she just stared at him for a second before an expression of anger shot onto her face.

"Don't say that, you idiot!" she snapped, angry about the fact that she was crying and even more angry about his words. "Would you really throw your life away just because I'm the Spirit of Faith? Because if that's the case then your duties are bullshit! Nobody should-"

"It has nothing to do with you being the Spirit of Faith," he interrupted her in a calm tone.

"Then why?" she replied, baling her paws into fists. "Why would you do something like this for a girl you've only met a few days ago?"

"I'm willing to give my life for you because you are more than just a simple comrade to me, Ri," he explained.

Ri's eyes widened for the third time. It took her a moment to fully understand what he had just said to her. 'I'm more than just a simple comrade to him? Don't tell me he-'

"W-what...?" She backed away into her chair while her breath halted and an expression of slight shock appeared on her face. 'Does he mean that he feels more than just friendship for me?'

While Cobal raised his right eyebrow at her reaction, Ri was going over it in her head.

'He... He likes me? But he's ten years older than me...' She had never even considered to see the knight in that way before. Sure, she had blushed at some embarrassing moments between the two of them but they hadn't brought up any feelings for him... At least no feelings she had been aware of. 'And what about Grovyle? I... I might not have told him about my feelings yet but... Am I betraying him if I...? Can I really feel the same about somebody else at the same time...?'

For a second she was actually trying figure out if she had any feelings that would make her return this kind of attraction. _'He's definitely strong...' _Her eyes unawarely scanned his bandaged chest and a silent chuckle left her mouth.

It had taken Cobal a moment until he repeated his last words in his head and slowly realized why Ri was staring at him like this.

"D-dear Arceus! That's not how I meant it!" he almost yelled with a hint of dread on his face, pulling Ri out of her thoughts.

She took a few seconds to get over the initial shock and turned confused again. If he didn't mean that he felt more than friendship for her then what did he? All of the rambling in her head had been for nothing then.

Cobal broke eye-contact and seemed turn sad for some reason. "The reason I see more than just a simple comrade in you is because you remember me about a Pokemon that was very precious to me."

She responded with an expression of understanding.

"You're so much like her... The way you speak, the way you laugh... that mischievous side you show sometimes... All those times you acted similar to her I didn't see you... but her," the knight explained.

"You mean Niobi?" Ri asked, recalling his mumbling when she had carried him back to the inn.

Cobal faced her again with a surprised look. "H-how did you-"

"You talk in your sleep too, you know... You kept mumbling that name while I carried you back to the inn..." she answered.

"I see... So the nightmares are back..." he mumbled to himself.

Ri raised an eyebrow. "Nightmares?"

"Ah, forget it, it's nothing," Cobal replied, shaking his head.

"Uhm... Okay, so who is she?" the Spirit of Faith asked. "Is she a knight too?"

He shook his head with a heavy sigh. "She's dead."

At that moment, Cobal's words connected inside Ri's head and her eyes widened a bit.

_I am not losing another friend to the Peace Seekers!_

_I failed again... Failed to protect a friend because I let my anger disturb my focus._

"I-I'm sorry..." She felt a little uneasy now after asking him so directly about her. 'It makes senses now... I remember him of a friend that died... I... I must've brought back some bad memories for him ever since we met.'

The bandaged Lucario moved his gaze to the window to his right, seemingly losing himself in memories while he began to explain. "Niobi used to be one of my fellow recruits back when I was still in training... There used to be a introduction ceremony whenever a new recruit..."

* * *

**Three years earlier...**

**Capital City of Alteal - Royal Guard Training Grounds**

* * *

On a sunny day in Alteal, a group of Pokemon, clad in blue scarves and light armor, were lined up before a Scizor on a big courtyard behind a fortress made of grey brick walls.

"Alright, listen up everyone! A new recruit will be joining our ranks as of today!" the bug-type exclaimed with a dominant, male voice, gaining the crowd's attention.

A 24 year-old Cobal, who had just recently evolved into a Lucario, peaked his ears to the information. He had been training under the Royal Guard for several years now and had defeated every single sparring partner he had been teamed up with. This new recruit might've given him a new challenge.

The lined up recruits moved their gazes onto the Pokemon besides the Scizor.

It was a female Mienfoo with a somewhat nervous look on her face. She was wearing a tattered, brown cape and had some bandages wrapped around her paws.

Cobal reacted with a mix of curiosity and confusion as he saw something nobody else did. Aside from that he also was somewhat intrigued by her physical appearance. The ragged cloth that covered parts of her shoulders and her slightly dust-covered fur didn't change the fact that she looked... beautiful.

He shook his head at the thought.

Cobal had noticed that she already had the defined features every female of her species had but she seemed to be a bit too young to think about her like this.

"Introduce yourself, recruit!" the Szicor ordered as he looked at the fighting-type next to him.

The Mienfoo let her eyes sway around the many other Pokemon in front of her before she did as told. "Uuh... Hello, I'm Niobi."

Some mumbling could be heard in reaction but silence immediately returned when the red bug-type raised his voice again. "Come on now, recruit. A proper introduction has to be more than that," he said in a somewhat stern tone. "Tell us how old you are, where you come from, about your likes and dislikes and why you joined the Royal Guard."

Niobi rubbed the back of her head and put on a thoughtful expression. "Well, I'm 16 and I'm from a village in the Klang Mountains up in the north. I like training and good food..." A faint hint of sadness appeared on her face. "I dislike some things... but I'd rather not share them... And as to why I joined the Royal Guard..." Her gaze moved towards the ground in front of her. "I was hoping that the training here might help me to handle a certain condition of mine."

"Condition?" the Scizor next to her repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sick or something? Because if you are then I don't think that-"

"She's talking about her aura," Cobal interrupted his instructor, gaining everyone's attention and a somewhat surprised look from the Mienfoo. "I have never seen anyone with so much aura before. It must be hard for her to control it."

The Scizor looked back at the fighting-type next to him. "Is that true?"

Niobi hesitantly nodded, giving the Lucario in the crowd a curious look.

"Well, we know who's gonna be your sparring partner from now on," the bug-type replied, giving both Niobi and Cobal a quick glance. "He's the only Pokemon here who's able to use aura. I'm sure he'll be able to help you out."

Both fighting-type gave a quick nod in response.

"Alright, everyone! I want all of you to go over the movements we worked on yesterday with your partners! Recruit Cobal, you're going to get our new recruit a proper uniform and show her around the barracks. Once you're done, I want you two to meet me on our training field. Dismissed!" the Scizor exclaimed, finishing his instructions.

The crowd slowly scattered into pairs until only Cobal and Niobi were left.

She slowly walked up to the Lucario with her somewhat nervous expression from earlier. The Mienfoo stopped in front of him and both of them stared at each other for a short moment.

"I guess we'll be sparring partners from now on..." Niobi began with a wry smile. "Are you okay with that?"

* * *

"...that's how we first met," Cobal finished.

Ri took a moment to process all of this before she responded. "What kind of condition was she talking about?"

"Ah... You see, Niobi's body could hold a huge amount of aura. She had so much of it that even you, a Brute Breed Lucario that has an Aura Garment and Aura Burst wouldn't even get close to her," he answered.

"Really? That much?" Ri had to think back to the time she had activated her Aura Burst during her battle with Wigglytuff. She had never felt that much power since she had woken up at Treeshroud Forest. If the aura she had radiated back then didn't even get close to the amount of aura Niobi could hold, then she must've had unbelievable reserves.

"The drawback of it was that she couldn't properly control it. She used too much aura for each of her moves. A simple Force Palm turned into a devastating shockwave that almost destroyed half of our training field," he continued to explain. "But that wasn't her actual problem. She sometimes had those episodes where her body produced more aura than it could store. It always caused her energy to wildly expel from her body and a lot of pain. The reason she joined the Royal Guard was to find a way to get rid of those episodes."

"And? Did she?" Ri questioned.

"After training with her for about a year, they had become less frequent but still occurred from time to time," the knight replied. "She managed to catch up with all the other recruits pretty fast and even participated in the knight exams with me."

"Didn't you say you failed that test?" Ri said, recalling one of their first conversations during their trip from Crystal Cave to Treasure Town.

"Yes... But I didn't tell you the whole story back then... Because... Because I didn't want to remind myself of what happened after the exam." Cobal broke eye-contact and seemed to be in pain for some reason. It was not physical but rather emotional. "That day..."

* * *

**Two years earlier...**

**Capital City of Alteal - Royal Castle Courtyard**

* * *

A lot of recruits, knights and even civilians were attending the knight exam which took place on a specially prepared courtyard inside of Alteal's castle walls.

Two big battlefields had been prepared for the event and most of the audience was scattered around them. In case of any injuries, a medical tent had been built on the side of them. Some trees and other vegetation was growing at the edges of the usually unused courtyard, giving the mostly plain scenery a bit of green color.

17 year-old Niobi, who was wearing some light armor, the standard blue scarf of every recruit, a short sword on her waist and her old bandages on her paws, was standing at the edge of the first field, carefully scanning the knights who were grouped up on the opposite side. One of them was going to be her opponent in the upcoming fights.

"What's wrong? You seem nervous..." Cobal's voice pulled her out of her thoughts and made her look to her left.

The Lucario was wearing pretty much the same equipment, only difference being the absence of bandages on his arms and a longer sword on his waist.

"No... I'm fine," the Mienfoo replied. "Just wondering who my opponent could be..."

Cobal grabbed her shoulder and gave her a smile. "Don't worry... We've been training for the past two months for this. I'm sure you'll pass."

"Thanks..." Niobi said with a wry smile, while the Lucario removed his paw again. "What about you? I know that you didn't take the exam in the past few years because you wanted to be absolutely ready but aren't you at least a little bit nervous?"

He moved his gaze to the knights on the other side of the field. "A little bit, yes."

"Hey, Cobal..." the Mienfoo said, causing the Lucario to look at her again. "I know this is probably a bad moment to ask something like this but do you want to grab something to eat after the exams?"

He raised an eye-brow. "Huh?"

"I... I want something to look forward to... No matter what's gonna happen," she explained with a smile. "Are you okay with that?"

Cobal blinked at first but soon returned her smile. "I guess I'll have something to look forward to as well now."

...

After the preparations for the exams had been finished and all of the recruits had been grouped up with their opponents, the first matches began.

The rules were pretty simple. To test if the recruits were capable of swiftly dealing with enemies without receiving any damage themselves, the first Pokemon to hit their opponent would win.

Cobal had been assigned to the second battlefield while Niobi was going to fight on the first one.

After waiting a couple of minutes at the sidelines and watching most of the recruits lose against the knights they had been paired up with, the announcer, which happened to be Cobal's and Niobi's instructor Scizor, called out their names.

"Recruit Cobal! Take place on the second field!" he called, gaining everyone's attention and ending the short break after the last match. "Recruit Niobi! Get to field one!"

The Lucario and the Mienfoo nodded at each other before they headed to their assigned battlefields.

After both of them and their opponents reached their designated spots, Cobal drew his blade, got into his rather casual fighting-stance and narrowed his eyes on his opponents, a male, axe-wielding Rhydon in armor.

A quick gaze to his left told him that Niobi was facing one of the few female knights, a Mightyena with a long sword between its teeth. (A/N: \\[T]/)

He didn't have much time to worry about her though, as the announcer started their exams with a loud call. "Begin!"

As soon as he heard those words, he focused onto his aura and dashed at his opponent with Extremespeed.

The Rhydon could still follow his movements however and swung down his axe onto the spot Cobal would've attacked from, leaving the Lucario no other choice but to stop mid-attack and jump out of harm's way.

He hesitated for a moment and scanned his opponent for any holes in his defense. The way the rock-type had swung down his axe left the his left side wide open.

After coming up with a simple strategy, Cobal charged again for a head-on attack. Just like before, the Rhydon could easily follow his movements and went for another swing with his axe.

The Rhydon smirked as everything seemed move in slow-motion while his weapon slowly descended down onto Cobal. But he immediately noticed that something was off when he realized that the fighting-type was smirking as well.

Cobal almost instantly moved to the left a bit and dodged the Rhydon's axe. Sliding past the rock-type, he turned around and prepared his blade for the slash that would end this battle.

Before he could bring his weapon forward through, he suddenly heard a loud scream from his right and several gasps from the crowd while he was hit by a wave of dust and aura.

His eyes met the sight of pain-ridden Niobi, who was holding her chest as a massive amount of aura radiated around her body.

This distraction had given Cobal's opponent enough time to turn around and smack his tail straight into his face. "Aagh!"

At the same time Cobal was thrown back, Niobi's opponent had used this opportunity as well and kicked the Mienfoo with her hind legs.

Both, Cobal and Niobi landed pretty close to each other in the small area between the two fields.

While Niobi was still clutching her chest in pain, Cobal raised his head and looked at the armored Rhydon in front of him.

"Getting distracted in a battle will only get yourself killed. Although you should always look out for your comrades, in the middle of a fight, you always care for yourself first. You can't protect your allies when you're dead," the rock-type said in a disappointed tone before his gaze moved onto the Niobi.

Cobal hadn't heard much of his lecture as his attention had immediately shifted to the fighting-type next to him after his fall.

She was laying on her back, holding her chest with her paws while her aura wildly radiated around her. Everyone in the audience had their eyes locked onto the pain-ridden Pokemon in the middle of the field.

"N-Niobi!" Cobal quickly got onto his feet and crouched down next to the Mienfoo.

By the time he had grabbed one of her paws with his own, her aura already started to calm down again.

"I'm... Agh... I'm okay..." she managed to bring out with a grimace of pain.

After the Mienfoo's aura had completely returned to normal and she managed to sit up, the Szicor spoke up again. "Ehem... It seems that both recruits have failed... Please clear the field for the next matches."

Niobi opened her eyes and looked around, noticing that everyone's looks were focused on her. Her gaze met Cobal's, who had a concerned expression on his face.

"What...?" She slowly realized what had happened.

As her eyes widened she began to stutter. "I-I'm sorry, Cobal... I-It's... It's my fault."

Before the Lucario could say anything, she quickly jumped onto her feet. "It's my fault you didn't become a knight," she said, beginning to run off.

"Niobi! Wait!" Cobal tried to grab onto her arm but barely missed it as the Mienfoo made a dash for the nearest exit of the castle grounds.

* * *

"... I tried to follow her after that but lost her once she got out of the castle," the bandaged Lucario explained and let out a sigh.

Ri took another moment to process his story and gave him a half-hearted smile. "So you failed because she had another one of her episodes and you were worried about her."

Cobal shook his head with a sad look. "Yeah... I know, it's a dumb reason but... I'm sure you'll understand once I tell you what happened after I found her at her favourite spot in the city."

"Uhm... It's not a dumb reason," the Spirit of Faith replied, trying to cheer him up a bit. "You just cared more for her than the exam. That's a good thing."

His expression lightened up a bit. "Thank you..."

Ri leaned onto his bed with her arms. "So what happened next?"

"Well... Like I said, I found her at her favourite spot and..."

* * *

**Two years earlier...**

**Capital City of Alteal - Main Plaza in the Market District**

* * *

A pillar of water was spraying out of the fountain in the middle of the main plaze of Alteal's market district. Several market stands and shops were scattered along the edges of the place and a lot of Pokemon were crowded around them.

In the middle of the massive amount of shopping and bartering citizens, teams and tourists, Cobal was pushing himself through the crowd, trying to get to the middle of the plaza.

As soon as he reached his goal, he saw a Mienfoo, sitting on the edge of the big fountain. She was staring at her reflection in the water, her eyes slightly red from crying.

"Niobi!" he yelled, running up to her.

Niobi noticed him and got onto her feet. "Cobal..."

The Lucario stopped right in front of her and gave her a concerned look. "Why did you run off like that?"

She broke eye-contact and grabbed her left upper arm with her right paw. "Why do you even care? I ruined your chance to become a knight. You must hate me right now..."

"Why would I hate you because of that?" Cobal asked, trying to get closer to her.

The Mienfoo flinched back at his approach however. "Why do I always have to hurt the Pokemon I care about?" she muttered to herself. "It's just like it was in my village. These episodes are ruining everyone I get close to."

"Niobi, what...?" the Lucario tried to ask but Niobi kept up her mumbling.

"My tribe leader's daughter and even my mother... Both of them died because of me. We were collecting some herbs when a pack of wild Pokemon suddenly attacked us." The Mienfoo began to sob as new tears ran down her cheeks. "I just had to have an episode at that moment... They... They died because they were protecting me and... and..."

Cobal grabbed onto her shoulders with his paws. "Niobi..."

Her head shot up and her angry eyes met his. "Why?! Why do you stick around with me after all this?! I've been hindering your training from the day we met because you had to help me with this stupid aura of mine! Why?!"

Cobal didn't respond for a moment and just looked into her teary eyes with a blank expression.

The shopping crowd around them seemed to stop moving and the plaza turned silent while he finally answered after what felt like an eternity. "You condition never bothered me... The reason I wanted to stick around with you is... It's because I have fallen in love with you, Niobi."

Her eyes widened and she took one step away from him, breaking out of his hold. "W-wha..."

"All the time we've spent together in the past year... At first I've only seen you as a student, but... All of our training sessions... Those times you dragged me into Alteal's most expensive restaurants... I began to see you in a different light after a while. The way you looked at me, the way you laughed and even those funny quirks of yours... I've come to-" He couldn't go on much further as Niobi suddenly turned left and made a dash for the road that led into the residential district, a thin trail of tears following behind her.

"Niobi! Wait!" Cobal immediately pursued her but quickly lost her in the crowd of Pokemon that had returned to normal after his call.

* * *

"You loved her..." Ri repeated, a surprised look plastered onto her face while she processed all of this.

The injured knight stared back at the window to his left. "I did..."

Something about this was bugging Ri though. "Uhm... I know this kind of ruins the moment but how old were you back then? 25?" she asked, regaining his attention.

"Yeah... And she was 17." He turned a little bit embarrassed. "I... I might have something for younger women..."

'He's into younger women?' Ri didn't know how to feel about his little confession at first. She was a girl and younger than him after all... Some of her thoughts about her feelings for him reappeared, however, before she could actually start the rambling in her head again, she spaced out all of a sudden.

_'Oh my god, Peon could totally convince him to go on a date with her!' _Ri didn't know why but she suddenly fell into a laughing fit. _'Hahaha! I'll never be able to hear another one of his introductions without imagining him saying I am Cobal, a royal pedophile of Alteal. Oh, geez! I'm dying!'_

Cobal didn't know what had gotten into her and just stared at the laughing Lucario with a confused look. "Ri...?" Cobal asked, snapping the female Lucario out of it.

"Haha-" Blinking a couple of times, she realized what she had just thought about and blushed. "Uhm... Sorry," she replied, rubbing the back of her head while she pushed the crazy idea into the back of her mind.

"What is so funny?" the knight questioned.

She frowned a bit. "Uhm... It was nothing. Please continue your story."

Luckily for Ri, the knight decided to shrug her weird behavior off. "Alright... The next part is where things get complicated... Do you remember what I told you about the group of outlaws that attacked Alteal?"

Ri folded her arms, recalling the story he had told her when they had travelled from Crystal Cave to Treasure Town. "Uhm... Yeah, I think so..."

"Well... The day of the knight exam also happened to be the day of those raids. They attacked when most guards and knights were stationed at the castle and left the rest of the city less protected," the knight replied.

"You said that the Peace Seekers had something to do with it..." the girl threw in. "They used those raids as a distraction to get some kind of weapon, right?"

"Yes," Cobal answered with a hint of sadness in his right eye. "The weapon they were after actually was Niobi..."

"Niobi?" Ri repeated as she raised an eyebrow. "She was a weapon?"

"Imagine a cattle of tea on top of a fire... What happens when the water inside gets too hot?" he responded, confusing the human-turned Pokemon a bit.

"Uhm... Steam comes out?" she replied in an unsure tone.

The bandaged Lucario nodded. "Correct... Now what would happen if you sealed up all the outlets?"

She thought about his illustration for a second. "Well, I guess it would explod-" Ri realized what he was trying to tell her mid-sentence and turned surprised. "Don't tell me they..."

"They were after Niobi because the massive amount of aura inside of her could cause an explosion big enough to destroy half of the capital city if you prevented her from releasing any aura," he explained.

"They wanted to turn her into a living bomb..." Ri concluded, rather shocked by this information. "W-what happened after you lost her?!"

"A few minutes after I lost her, the first guards noticed that outlaws were going rampage in the federation district. They called everyone available there to stop them. Niobi and I separately followed the guards that ran to the district and ended up fighting one of the biggest group of criminals," he said with a slight expression of distaste.

Ri figured that he was ripping up old wounds by telling her about this.

"I tried to talk to her while we fought but there were simply too many of them," he began but stopped for a moment to look at her. "I'm sure you've noticed it during my fight with Suke... When my anger got the better of me."

She recalled the look of pure rage on his face when Suke had seriously injured his chest in the fight. "Uhm... I think I get what you mean..."

He looked away with a hint of shame on his bandaged face. "The same happened back then when one of those outlaws got me by surprise. My mind was so clouded by anger that I didn't even notice that Niobi was overwhelmed by the one of Pokemon she was fighting. By the time I had defeated my opponent and looked up to check on her, this criminal had already taken her away from the battlefield."

"They kidnapped her?" Ri responded with a slightly worried look.

"Yes, he carried her to another group of outlaws. I managed to sense her aura and followed them into one of the hideouts the criminals had built up as preparation for the raids. It was an alleyway in the market district," Cobal continued but stopped again for a second to look at her again.

"Shortly before I got there, I sensed another aura near that area. It was the same aura as that Dewott," he said with a low growl.

"You mentioned that..." the Spirit of Faith commented.

"He was probably going there to take Niobi from them but he must've noticed me somehow and retreated," the knight answered. "The second time I sensed his aura was the day after, when the Royal Guard was apprehending the remaining criminals."

"I... I see..." She prepared to comfort her partner in case her next question would be too much for him to answer. "What happened in that alleyway?"

The fighting-type slowly lowered his head, hiding his eye from her. It took him a moment before he answered. "I was too late... They... They had already put some restraints on her that were meant to keep her aura locked up inside of her body."

"Restraints?" Ri repeated in a questioning tone.

"Cuffs made of a rare metal that can absorb and release aura. There were also some strange orbs built into them... We later found out that the metal had absorbed all of the aura that was radiating from her body and that the orbs had immediately pumped it back inside," he hesitantly answered, still not looking at her.

"Anyway, I dealt with the grunts pretty easily but when I confronted the leader of this group..."

* * *

**Two years earlier...**

**Capital City of Alteal - Bandit Hideout in the Market District**

* * *

Smoke was rising into the air from several places all around the capital city. The sounds of fighting, dust and ash were flying through the streets while the Royal Guard did their best to stop the attack.

Inside a rather big alley, between two big market-halls, a group of bandits had set up a base. Wooden crates and boxes were scattered along the sides of the alleyway and a few torches that were attached to the grey brick walls of the adjacent buildings were lighting up the area.

Cobal growled while he cleaned his sword from the blood of his opponents with a swift swing, sending a splash of red onto the stone floor.

Unconsious Scraggy, Houndoor and other dark-types were scattered all around the Lucario.

As he turned to his left, deeper into the alley, and tightened the grip on the sword in his right hand, he met the sight of a Magmortar who was sitting on top of some crates. From this elevated position, the humanoid-looking fire-type was looking at him with a look of amusment.

"Where is she?" the fighting-type asked, staring at the criminal with an ice-cold expression.

"Tch... Somebody's serious today," the Magmortar mocked with a rough male voice. "You're pretty strong for a mutt. Beatin' up 20 of my men without even gettin' a single scratch ain't somethin' anyone can do."

"Answer me!" Cobal yelled, anger flaring up in his eyes.

The fire-type grinned in response and reached behind the box he was sitting on. He then revealed an unconscious Mienfoo, holding her by her neck with his clawed, cannon-like arm. "Is she your girlfriend or somethin'?"

Cobal's eyes widened when he saw her.

The Pokemon had scratches and bruises all over her body and strange cuffs had been locked around her wrists, ankles and neck. Blue orbs were crafted into them and were giving off a dim glow.

"What did you do to her?!" the Lucario growled, taking one step towards the fire-type and Niobi.

He responded with an annoyed sigh. "Arceus, you're askin' too many questions... Those guys ain't payin' enough for this crap. You know, I thought I could finally have an easy job where didn't have to kill someone... This is so-"

Cobal had enough... Focusing onto his aura, he used Extremespeed and dashed forward, vanishing from the spot he had been standing on.

The fighting-type reappeared right in front of the Magmortar, sword readied in his right hand. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion for him while his eyes narrowed onto his opponents neck. 'I'll end this before it can even begin!'

Right before Cobal was able to throw his weapon forward though, a smirk appeared on the Magmortar's face and his eyes met those of the Lucario.

In an almost instant motion, the fire-type brought his canon-like arm in front of Cobal's exposed belly and readied a compressed sphere of flames.

Only able to grit his teeth and brace himself for the worst, Cobal was hit by a point blank Flame Burst which sent him flying with a massive explosion. "Aagh!"

The Lucario was thrown back towards the entrance of the alley and crashed against one of the building's wall before he fell down onto some of the wodden crates at the side of the alleyway, breaking them upon impact.

Cobal struggled to raise his head again after receiving this super effective attack. He was laying on top of broken planks and the shattered goods, a black cloud of smoke raising from his now burned stomach.

He slowly managed to get back onto his feet and looked back at the Magmortar at the end of the alley.

The fire-type had gotten onto his feet as well and was still holding Niobi up by her neck. "Extremespeed, huh? That's a pretty dangerous move you got there, mutt..."

Cobal could only growl in response while he clutched his burning stomach with his left paw and tightened the grip on his blade.

"Do you even know who I am?" the Magmortar asked, jumping down from his elevated position and putting on a vicious grin. "I'm Solomon, the Blazin' Death!"

"The Blazing Death?" the injured Lucario repeated as his eyes widened a bit.

He had heard that name before... A few days before the Knight Exams, when he had been stationed as a guard at the Federation Headquarters.

This Magmortar was a criminal with a bounty of 45000 Poke on his head, an S-Class outlaw.

"Looks like someone's finally recognized me... Are you scared, mutt?" the fire-type asked in a mocking tone. He threw Niobi to his left, causing a rather hard impact on the stone floor for the unconscious Pokemon.

Cobal's pupil's shrunk in size and his anger flared up after seeing Niobi fall to the ground. He might've had an opponent in front of him that was way above his league but he would not let him treat the Pokemon he loved like this.

"You bastard!" the Lucario roared, dashing at the Magmortar. He ignored the searing pain on his stomach and readied his blade once again to stab his opponent.

Solomon's grin only became wider than it already was while he brought both of his arms forward, pointing them at the approaching Lucario. Flames began to stream out of the cannon-like palms and a shockwave of hot air shot out around the Magmortar's body.

Cobal ignored all signs off the approaching attack and simply kept going, seeing nothing but red.

"Time to die!" the fire-type yelled, releasing a literal wave of flames into his opponents direction.

It was already too late when Cobal realized that he now had a massive Heatwave heading straight for him. Gritting his teeth, he cursed under his breath and was engulfed in burning fire which's flames reached even above the surrounding buildings with a loud blast.

...

By the time the flames had died down and only smoke was left in the alley, Solomon was laughing to himself. "Hahaha! They always make it so easy for me!"

The Magmortar moved his gaze to the Mienfoo to his left with a sinister grin on his face. She was still out cold and the orbs on her restraints were still glowing.

"Heh... With him out of the way I might as well just have some fun with her until this contact arrives," he said, slowly approaching the Mienfoo. "They said they wanted her alive but they didn't specify how much alive..."

When he reached her, he took a hold of her neck again and raised the unconscious fighting-type up to his face. "Come on, wake up. I want you to be conscious while we do this, sweetheart," he whispered into her ear, shaking the Pokemon.

"Don't... touch... her..." Cobal's voice suddenly echoed through the alley.

With a look of surprise, the Magmortar turned his head to the cloud of smoke where the voice had come from.

A Lucario was slowly revealed by the fading smoke, his head lowered and his sword held out to his right. The ground underneath him was somehow untouched by the flames, unlike the remaining area which had been covered by sooth. He was still covered in burns, ash and bruises however.

Solomon turned surprised and let the Mienfoo fall out of his claws yet again, turning back to the fighting-type. "You somehow diverted my flames with your sword at the last second... I'm actually surprised, mutt!"

Cobal didn't respond. He kept standing in his place, not even moving a single muscle.

The Magmortar began to grin again. "But the heat still did it's work, didn't it... Those steel bones of yours must be glowin' red right now."

He was right, at the moment the part steel-type was trying his best not to faint. His bones and the thin layer of steel-like skin underneath his fur had been brought near their melting point from the immense heat he had been surrounded with. Luckily for him, all of his senses had already turned numb, sparing him from the pain he knew he must've felt.

"Guess you're tougher than I thought... Looks like you need another one to bite the-" Magmortar stopped there as Cobal suddenly took one step towards him.

His head raised again, revealing two bleak red eyes. Just when the Lucario was about to take another step, his legs gave out under him and he fell to the ground.

The Blazing Death stayed silent for moment before he began to laugh yet again.

Cobal was doing his best not to black out in the meantime. He was still conscious, the only things in his sight the stone floor, his two paws, his sword, his opponent and Niobi...

"Niobi..." he managed to bring out with a whisper.

Seeing the Pokemon he loved in such dire situation simply wouldn't let him pass out. He couldn't pass out... Not with Niobi's life on the line.

He struggled to move his arms, his legs, some part of his body but all his attempts were in vain. The Lucario cursed at himself and his weakness. Why couldn't he defeat this Magmortar? Why was he not strong enough? Were all his previous accomplishments for nothing?

He always wanted to get stronger... Stronger than his father, stronger than the knight he had met during his travels... And now this outlaw.

"I... can't... lose..." he said, narrowing his bleak eyes onto the still laughing Magmortar. "I can't lose to him..."

Just when he was about to struggle to move again, a female voice suddenly echoed through his mind and a glow appeared underneath his left paw.

_Awaken..._

He slowly managed to turn his paw around, revealing a black, red and blue marble in it.

Cobal's eyes cleared up again and widened a bit. "A-a Mega Stone...?"

Solomon had noticed that the Lucario was still conscious and stopped laughing. "Eh?"

The fighting-type ignored his opponent and tightened his grip on the stone in he paw. He had heard about Mega Evolution before... All he needed to accomplish it were the stone, knowledge on the true reason one fought and enough aura to activate the stone.

He already had two of them. The stone and his reason to fight... The only thing left was his ability to pour his energy into the stone.

Cobal was at his physical limit but the Mega Stone in his hand had given him a new resolve. With this stone he could become stronger and defeat the Pokemon in front of him.

Letting out a grunt of pain, the Lucario slowly got back onto his feet, sword in his right hand and Mega Stone in his left one.

The Magmortar grinned at first but turned shocked when he noticed the object in Cobal's paw. "Eeh?!"

Cobal created eye-contact with his opponent, brought the marble up to his chest and pushed everything he had into it. "To get stronger..."

And from one moment to the next, white light was engulfing the alley while a sphere of condensed aura formed around the Lucario.

"WHAT?!" Solomon yelled, shielding his eyes from the light.

Cracking noises shot through the area and with a shockwave, the sphere around Cobal shattered, revealing two red-slitted pupils inside the remaining particles of white aura.

...

The next couple of seconds, sounds of explosions and screams of agony echoed through the whole capital city while rays of light shot into the sky from an alleyway in the market district.

...

A blood-covered, cut up Magmortar fell onto his back, his eyes rolled up into their sockets while Cobal reverted back into his normal form.

The Lucario was panting hard, still unsure about the way his body had changed.

**~ BGM: Never meant to belong - Bleach OST**

He couldn't worry about this now however, as Niobi was laying on the floor a couple of feet away from him. Pushing all his thoughts aside, he rushed past the knocked out fire-type and over to the Mienfoo. The fighting-type crouched down next to her and turned around her bruised body, holding her head up.

"Please, wake up! Niobi!" he said, gently shaking her. "Please!"

The first reaction he got was a light stirr before the orbs on the strange restraints that had been put on her suddenly started to glow more intense and she woke up with a start. "Aah!"

"Niobi!" Cobal responded, looking into her eyes.

The Mienfoo seemed to be in a lot of pain for some reason. "Cobal... Agh... You have to... get out of here..." she said with closed eyes.

"W-why? What's wrong?" he asked, flinching back a bit.

"T-they put these orbs on me... Agh... They... They keep my aura locked up inside my body..." she managed to say between sharp breaths and grunts.

The Lucario turned shocked by this information. If Niobi's body had no way of releasing any aura then-

"W-we have to get them off!" Cobal grabbed one of the cuffs on her wrist and tried to pull it off but only managed to hurt her even more.

"A-agh! S-stop!" she yelled, grabbing his paw with her free one. "It's... It's too late... I can already feel it... I'm-"

Cobal interrupted her with a look of dread. "There has to be a way to save you!"

Her body was already at it's limit however... The rate at which it generated aura left them with only a couple of minutes until she would explode and destroy the whole market distict, killing thousands of innocent Pokemon which had taken refuge in their homes in the process.

She didn't respond for a moment before she took one deep breath and opened her eyes again, giving him the most serious look she could bring up in her pain. "Cobal... You have to stop me from producing anymore aura..."

Cobal's eyes widened to that. He knew her intention but... The only way to stop a living being from producing aura was to kill them.

"W-wha... No! I can't kill you, Niobi! Please, there has to be another way," he pleaded, grabbing her left paw with his right one.

"No... It's okay... It's our duty to protect this city..." she replied, a glimpse of determination appearing in her expression.

He shook his head desperately. "I can't, Niobi! I... How am I supposed to kill you?! I..." Cobal paused before his next words. "I love you..."

Tears and a faint smile spread across her face after hearing this. "Cobal... It's okay..." Niobi slowly brought her right paw up and carefully touched Cobal's cheek. "You've always been there for me no matter how much trouble I gave you. You've always cared for me when everbody else would've left me behind... Even now you're here with me... Cobal... I-I love you too..."

A wry smile also forced itself onto Cobal's face. She loved him back...

This short moment of joy didn't last long however, as the current situation overweighed all of his thoughts. "Niobi, please... I can't do it..."

"My tribe... My father... All of them gave up on me a long time ago because of my aura..." she said with some sadness in her eyes. "I could never make it right to them after what happened to my mother and the tribe leader's daughter... So just this once... I want to do the right thing for everyone..."

"Please... Don't make me do this..." the Lucario pleaded yet again, tears forming in his eyes as well.

"It's okay..." she said, raising her head and gently placing her lips onto his.

And for a moment, everything around them stopped. The flames, the smoke, the sounds of battle that came from the city... All of it faded into the background. This short moment, these couple seconds of happiness... Both of them wanted to drew out the most of it, making it seem like an eternity.

Niobi slowly broke the kiss and let her head fall down into his arm.

"Let's meet again in the next life..." She flinched from yet another wave of pain but forced one last smile onto her face while more tears streamed down her cheeks. "Are you okay with that?"

Cobal took in her smile one last time and branded the image into his mind before he closed his eyes and diverted his head with gritted teeth.

...

"I'm so sorry..."

* * *

"I'm so sorry..." the bandaged Lucario said as he closed his eye and a grimace of emotional pain wandered onto his face.

A look of pure shock was Ri's initial response. "C-Cobal..."

"I'm so sorry, Niobi..." the knight said again, tears forming in his one visible eye.

Ri didn't know how to respond at first. His story had shocked her and the fact that her partner had killed someone before didn't help either.

But Cobal was crying... Her friend was crying because he had just told her about the worst moment in his life. One of the worst experiences anyone could've had.

Still unsure of what to say to the sorrowing Lucario, she did the only thing that came to her mind and leaned forward to embrace him in a hug.

"It's okay..."

**~ Stop music**

* * *

**End of Chapter - 42**

* * *

_Did I manage to hit anyone's feels? : ^)_

_I hope you liked Cobal's and Niobi's back-story. _

_Man, I feel like I've put one too many of the "Why do you even like me?"-scenes in here... Ri's outburst about Cobal protecting her sure reads like one, right? _

_(I guess that can happen if you plan out those RixCobal moments before Niobi's part. Speaking of which... I hope I just shot a cannonball into a certain fangirl's favorite ship with this chapter. *laughs like a maniac*)_

_Anyway... Does anybody have any theories about Ri's weird behavior yet? Some of her recent thoughts and actions sure don't seem like her at all... *evil smirk*_

_We also got to see how somebody gains the ability to mega-evolve in the SoF-universe. (Was that transition with Cobal's slitted eyes epic or should I have gone into more detail there?)_

_We're getting closer to Limestone Cavern... A part of this story where I have over 15000 words of scene concepts. Things should go a little faster again once Ri and Cobal finally confront Team Charm and try to get the next Time Gear._

_Until next time!_

_Next time: Chapter 43 - Cloak and Dagger_

* * *

**Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review!**


	44. Cloak and Dagger and Love?

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

* * *

_Here we go again, another chapter for you. (11.500 words... Another long one!)_

_It will be the last of the 'filler chapters' as some of you liked to call them._

_..._

**_Guest Review Answer Corner:_**

**_Stop:_**_Stop what? I don't get it. More information on what to stop plis._

**_Also:_**_Now that's something I can understand. Giving me more vocabulary makes sense. Thanks, haven't heard that one before._

**_ArcticWolfProd:_**_Here's a new chapter, that should answer you question. Progress might be slow but I intent to go through with the SoF-series._

_..._

_To a certain fangirl: I'm moving the plot, okay! Stop yelling at me! xD (Also, you're probably going to kill me for what's going to happen shortly.)_

_Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter._

* * *

**Chapter 43 - Cloak and Dagger... and Love?!**

* * *

"Thank you... I'm okay again," Cobal said after releasing all of his sorrow.

Ri broke the hug after minutes of comforting the Lucario and leaned back into her chair. It had taken both of them quite a while to get over his rather shocking story.

The room had completely lit up by now as their conversation had lasted for more than an hour. The sky outside had turned completely blue and the slight glow of orange on the village had disappeared.

"You killed her," Ri stated with an unsure expression on her face. She really didn't know how to feel about the whole thing.

Cobal responded with a look of shame. "I... I was scared to tell you about this. Ever since I saw your reaction after I threatened Team Work. You're a hero, a symbol of hope for the Pokemon of Alteal... Knowing that you, a Pokemon everybody looks up to, doesn't approve with the most difficult decision of my life just-"

"I don't hate you for it, Cobal," the girl interrupted him and turned sad herself. "I'm not sure if I could've made the same decision as you did. Hell, I bet nobody would be sure if they could've made such a decision."

The bandaged Lucario just kept staring at her while she diverted her gaze from him. "Uhm... I-I'm sorry for making you go through all of this again."

"It's okay..." Cobal replied. "I've managed to distance myself from my past by putting up something like a shell around myself. That calm and collected mask has always helped me to deal with those memories."

Ri raised an eyebrow to this. Now that he mentioned it, he had acted different some times during their travels. When Celsius had flirted with him or whenever she had teased him about something... There had been some cracks in his 'mask'.

"You usually act different?" the girl asked in a curious tone.

"I've always been quite short-tempered when I was young. When something upset me I'd usually be grumpy for a whole day..." he answered. "Training at the Royal Guard helped to straighten me up bit."

"Uhm... I see," Ri replied, rubbing the back of her head.

Awkward silence followed. Neither of them really knew what to talk about after all of this.

"So uhm... I remember you a lot about a girl you loved, huh?" Ri awkwardly asked. She knew that it probably wasn't comfortable for him to talk about Niobi but she really had not other ideas on how to start another conversation.

"Y-you do..." he responded in a sad tone before he looked into her eyes with an expression of slight discomfort. "D-does it bother you in any way?"

She shook her head. "No, it doesn't... Don't worry. It's not like you actually have some feeling for me, right?" Ri answered with a nervous smile before she realized what she had just asked and inwardly cursed at herself.

The Lucario didn't respond to this and diverted his gaze, the discomfort in his expression becoming more noticeable.

"C-Cobal!" Ri yelled while a pink blush shot onto her face.

He immediately looked at her again, turning equally nervous. "I can't say that those thoughts haven't come to my mind yet, okay? B-but you're the one that so openly displayed yourself to me and even made me touch your most attractive feature!"

Her blush turned a bit darker as she recalled the events he was talking about. Those moments were exactly why she was unsure whether she had any feelings that'd make her return his affection or not.

Cobal shook his head after that. "It's only physical attraction though... Both of us are Lucario so it's only natural that some of those thoughts would appear at some point. The fact that you remember me so much about Niobi also kind of-" He stopped there and broke eye-contact again. "I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said anything."

'He thinks I'm attractive...' For some reason that information was the most important thing for Ri. Ever since she had woken up in Treeshroud Forest, she had always been insecure about her physical appearance. Sylee had somewhat cleared her up about it and even Suke had mentioned that he found her beautiful... But Cobal, a person that she trusted, saying that he found her attractive was the confirmation she really needed.

_'He's not too bad himself...'_ Ri's eyes unawarely scanned his bandaged form yet again but she immediately shook her head when she noticed what she was doing.

"Uhm... Thanks," the female Lucario replied with an awkward smile. She had no idea how to respond after hearing him say that. Should she return the compliment?

Another minute of awkward silence followed. Cobal was doing his best to keep his gaze fixed at the window to his left while Ri was fidgeting with her paws on her lap.

When Ri grew tired of the silence she suddenly recalled something she wanted to do a long time ago.

"Uhm... Cobal?" she asked, getting the bandaged Lucario's attention. "I've never really thanked you for saving my life before, haven't I?"

Cobal turned a little surprised after hearing that.

"Back at Treasure Town, after the whole mess at Fogbound Lake and when Suke tried to kidnap me... You've saved my life three times so far..." Ri put on a bright smile and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Cobal..."

He could only blink and fight down the blush that was slowly forming on his cheeks. "I-it's no problem... You're one of my comrades."

When Ri opened her eyes again, she felt disappointed for some reason and a slight frown wandered onto her face. She had thanked him but it hadn't satisfied her. She wanted to return all of his help somehow.

'I want to pay him back... But how?' Just then an absurd idea formed in her head. 'I-I could...' With some struggle she managed to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. The gift she was thinking about would help her to clear some things up. 'If I... If I do that and feel something then...'

When she was just about to get up from her chair, she suddenly froze for a second._ 'I like the idea but I feel like it's not enough... I won't figure out anything from a little peck on the cheek...'_

"Hey, Cobal..." Ri said, getting up from her chair and looking into his eyes with a strange smirk. "I want to give you something."

Cobal turned a bit confused. He could've sworn that something about her red eyes was weird again.

Before he could even react, the female Lucario hopped onto the bed and carefully sat down on top of him, causing the injured knight's right eye to widen in shock. Cobal's white blanket was the only thing between the lower parts of their bodies now.

"A little sign of appreciation..." Ri grabbed onto both of his cheeks with her paws before she slowly leaned her face down to his and closed her eyes.

"R-Ri, what are you-" Cobal was muffled by a pair of female lips that pressed themselves against his.

He could only stare at her in shock for the few seconds their kiss lasted.

After breaking the kiss and leaning back up, she carefully placed her paws on his bandaged chest and looked down at him again. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her smirk from before was still present.

Cobal tried to say something but her sudden action had completely stunned him.

Ri was just about to open her mouth when a knock suddenly came from the door and a voice entered from outside.

"Ri, are you awake yet?" Peon asked, opening the door and stepping into the room. The green-eyed Audino immediately stopped in her tracks and froze up just like Cobal when she noticed the scene in front of her.

While Ri and Cobal turned their heads to look at her, the door behind the normal-type fell shut.

...

Ri blinked and looked back and forth between the Lucario underneath her and Peon with a confused expression on her face. It took her a moment to snap out of it and she realized what she had just done. "U-uhm..."

Blood rushed up to her cheeks in an instant and her whole face turned red while she looked at Peon with eyes that looked like scribbled, white circles.

The shock over her kiss and the fact that she had no idea why she had done it were great enough to make black out for a second, causing her to fall to her right.

Ri landed on the floor behind Cobal's bed, temporarily hiding her from Peon's sight.

"W-what it going on here!?" the thirteen year-old Audino asked, accusingly pointing her finger at Cobal with a blush on her face.

The knight was still stunned and could only bring out a couple of silent stutters. The Spirit of Faith, a legend, had just kissed him... The fact that she was 10 years younger than him didn't help either.

"W-why was she on top of you?!" Peon yelled again.

In the meantime, Ri had gotten back onto her feet and quickly shifted as far away from Cobal as possible. She was still completely red and now unable to look at the bandaged Lucario besides her who pretty much had the same problem.

Seeing that neither Cobal nor Ri could explain what had happened, the Audino was only met with awkward silence. The uncomfortable atmosphere in the room was getting worse with every second that passed.

"Uuh... I guess neither of you want to tell me..." Peon concluded after what felt like an eternity.

Both Lucario responded by nodding in union.

The Audino sighed. "I'll just act like this never happened then..." she said, not knowing how thankful both of them were for that. Although she let the situation slide, the tension in the room didn't disappear in the slightest.

She walked up to Cobal's bed and gave the Lucario a look of concern. "How are you feeling?"

The knight struggled a bit before he managed to find his voice again. "Aside from the fact that I won't be able to see with my left eye anymore, I'm fine... Just a little sore."

"So she already told you..." The Audino cleared her throat. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your sight. Healing a damaged eye is one of the most complicated injuries. I haven't had many chances to do research on those kinds of Heal Pulse operations."

"It's okay... I'm still alive..." Cobal responded.

Peon looked at Ri again. "I'm sorry, Ri but I have to change his bandages and do another Heal Pulse session on him. Could you leave for now?"

The female Lucario inwardly thanked god for this. Although she felt a little guilty for leaving Cobal after kissing him like that, she slowly made her way to the door. "I-I've left his gear on the table. I'll wait in the lobby until you're done."

Once she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her, she immediately placed her paws onto the sides of her head. 'What the hell?!'

A light blush and a look of distress could be seen on her face while she tried to figure out what had happened. 'Why did I do that? I kissed him out of the blue! Sure, I wanted to do that but n-not like this! Climbing on top of him and... and...'

The red on her face reappeared from the images in her mind.

Ri violently shook her head, bringing her paws back down. 'What am I supposed to tell him? How am I supposed to keep travelling with him after that?! I can't just kiss a guy who's ten years older than me and act like nothing happened!'

A thoughtful expression appeared on her face for a second. _'Not that his age would matter... but...'_

Ri shook her head again. 'Ugh! I've figure out nothing from that kiss! First the thing with Suke, then I see myself sleeping with Grovyle in another timeline and now this?! It's too much at once! God dammit, how much embarrassment can happen to me in only two days?'

Growing tired of the topic, she decided to take a deep breath to calm down again... But failed miserably as the blush on her face and the images in her mind simply would not disappear. What was she going to tell him? Didn't she already have enough things to worry about? Thoughts about Team Work, the Peace Seekers and her friends were constantly nagging at the back of her mind as it was.

Still flustered, she walked over to the door of her own room at the opposite side of the hallway and stopped in front of it. Suke's "Do not disturb" sign was still hanging on her doorknob.

'God dammit, Suke...' Letting out a growl, Ri ripped off the piece of paper and threw it into the hallway. She didn't care about throwing her trash carelessly onto ground at that moment.

After opening her door, stepping inside and closing it behind her again, she moved her gaze onto the table to her right. Her leg-pouch and her fake sword were still lying on top of it.

Ri quickly put the blade into the holster on her belt and picked up her pouch, doing a quick check on it's containments. Berries, Luminous Orb, broken dessert-goggles.

She felt a pang of guilt when she looked at the orb she had gotten from Grovyle. 'Grovyle... I wonder what he'd think of me if he knew what I just did... Ugh...'

Ri's gaze focused onto her goggles. For some reason, looking at them managed to calm her down. The nostalgic feeling they were giving her was strangely comfortable, causing her blush to slowly die down.

The girl pulled them out of her pouch and attached the leather bag onto her right upper leg before she put them around her neck like she had done way back when Ozu, Riley and her had explored the Northern Desert.

Fiddling around with them with her paw while they were hanging down to her collarbone managed to distract her from her worries somehow. It felt as if her thoughts were occupied by something else whenever she placed her paw onto the metal frames around the glass.

Realizing that she was loosing herself in the feeling of nostalgia, Ri shook her head and looked down at the goggles with a thoughtful look. 'I wonder if I used to wear goggles like this before I lost my memories... Dammit, I really want to know why they feel so familiar...'

She decided to keep them around her neck for now and took one last look at her room before she headed out the door again.

After picking out her key from one of her belt-pouches, she locked the door and turned to her left, giving Peon's door a nervous glance. 'Geez... What am I going to tell him?'

She could hear some familar voices from the lower floor while she made her way to the stairs. As Ri stepped down into the lobby and got everyone present into her view, she immediately recognized several faces.

Teky the inn-keeper, Pyro and Storm, the Whismur and Loudred from yesterday were all staring at her alongside a Lickitung she didn't know.

She noticed that the Shinx and the shiny Pikachu were wearing their explorer gear. Seeing the Pikachu also caused her to feel a bit uneasy as the images from when he had hit her with Attract flashed through her mind for a second.

"Morning!" every Pokemon except the Lickitung greeted in union.

"Uhm... Morning," Ri replied with a somewhat confused look. Had they all been waiting for her? She was still upset from what she had done just minutes earlier so she couldn't help but turn a little annoyed by the attention. 'I just can't get a break, huh?'

"You look like you didn't have that good of a sleep... Don't tell me my beds are uncomfortable," the Buizel behind the reception said while the Lucario walked up to them.

With a somewhat nervous laugh, Ri scratched her chin with a finger. "Uhm... They're not uncomfortable, don't worry! I kinda slept in a chair tonight so that might explain if I look a little tired."

The girl inwardly sighed. 'Yeah, right... My ruffled up fur and the worried look in my eyes totally have nothing to do with kissing Cobal just now...'

"Uhm... So what is going on here?" Ri asked, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

"Everyone here wants to talk with you, Ri," Storm replied.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" the Lickitung near the front door yelled, taking a couple of steps towards the Spirit of Faith. "YOU'RE ONE OF THE POKEMON THAT PUT A HOLE INTO MY RESTAURANT!"

A rain of saliva was sent into Ri's direction alongside the words, however, before they could hit her, the girl instinctively side-stepped with Extremespeed and ended up in a rather awkward position next to the staircase.

"What the hell?!" Ri yelled, giving the normal-type a shocked look. "Don't spit at me, god dammit!"

"I CAN'T HELP IT! YOU WOULD SPIT A LOT TOO IF YOUR TONGUE HUNG OUT ALL THE TIME!" he defended himself. "LET'S GET STRAIGHT TO IT! YOU OWE ME A WALL AND THE REPAIRS ARE GOING TO COST ME AT LEAST 6000 POKE!"

"6000?!" Ri repeated, backing away one step. _'How the fuck am I supposed to pay that much?! I don't have a single Poke on me. I swear to god if he forces me to work as one of those eye-candy waitresses in his restaurant, I'll-'_

The girl was met with silence afterwards and for some reason, everyone in the room began to smile at her.

"HOWEVER..." The Lickitung slowly walked up to her, giving her a look she didn't quite understand. "YOU DID SAVE MY NEPHEW'S LIFE, SO I GUESS I CAN PUT ALL THE BLAME ON THE DEWOTT THAT WAS WITH YOU WHEN I TALK WITH THE AUTORITIES." He grabbed onto one of her paws and gave her a grateful handshake with both of his hands. "THANK YOU..."

Ri looked back and forth between the restaurant-owner, the Loudred and the little Whismur next to her until something clicked and her eyebrow raised from the realization. "You're siblings?"

"YEP, SHE'S MY SISTER!" he responded with a smile, briefly looking at the Loudred behind him.

It totally made sense... A Lickitung with that kind of a voice had to be related to a Whismur's evolutionary line in some way.

'Wait...' Ri spaced out all of sudden as a jolt of pain and the almost inaudible voice of a memory shot through her head.

_"B...g...si...r..."_

The Lucario shook her head after the still unpleasant sensation. It was another one of those moments where something was familiar enough to trigger the usual pain of a memory shred but not familiar enough to let her actually remember anything afterwards.

"Come on, little brother. Did you really have to scare her like that?" the female Loudred asked, walking up to Ri as well while the Lickitung let go of her paw.

"We already talked out the misunderstanding from yesterday with those two," she explained, giving Pyro and Storm a quick glance. "We're here because my son really wanted to see you again and thank you himself."

The little Whismur besides her looked up at Ri with his cross-shaped eyes. "T-thank you, lady."

Ri smiled in response and crouched down to him, patting the little normal-type on the head with her left arm. "No problem."

He flinched back all of sudden, his eyes focused onto the burn marks that ran all the way up to Ri's shoulder. "W-what happened to your arm, lady?"

The Whismur's mother grabbed onto his shoulder. "Don't ask people about their scars like that... She might be uncomfortable with it."

"Uhm... It's no problem," the Spirit of Faith replied, getting back up again while her gaze fixed onto her black limb for a second and she held back a growl. 'Still getting upset because of that heat-proof thing, yep."

After a short moment of silence, the Loudred spoke up again. "A-anyway, we won't hold you up any longer... I'm sure the Spirit of Faith has to get back to stopping Temporal Tower from falling."

Ri rubbed the back of her head. "Uhm, yeah..."

"HOPE, YOU'LL COME BY MY RESTAURANT AGAIN ONCE YOU'RE DONE SAVING THE WORLD!" the Lickitung yelled before a nervous smile spread across his face. "ALTHOUGH IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU DIDN'T DRAG ALONG ANY KIDNAPPERS NEXT TIME!"

"I'll keep that in mind," the female Lucario responded with a somewhat nervous laugh of her own.

"Goodbye..." the Loudred, Whismur and Lickitung said in union and headed out of the front door of the inn. After they closed the door behind them, Ri turned to Pyro and Storm.

"How's it going?" the shiny Pikachu asked with a smile.

"Uhm... I've had better mornings," she replied, spacing out for a second afterwards. _'I did kiss a super strong guy though... I'm not sure if that really counts as bad.'_

Ri shook her head and pushed the thought away. "How about you?"

"W-we're f-fine," the Shinx next to Storm answered timidly. "Um... W-what about your friend?"

Ri had to fight down a blush that tried to form on her cheeks before she answered. "Uhm... He's okay... Peon is doing another Heal Pulse session on him right now."

"I see..." Storm replied with a look of concern. "Should we talk about our plan now?"

Ri folded her arms. "Well... There's not really much to talk about. You two head back to Treasure Town, keep your eyes open for a Darkrai, inform every explorer you come across that I'm not hunted anymore and ask Wigglytuff what to do next once you're there."

"Understood," both Pyro and Storm responded in union.

A moment of silence followed. The Pikachu was looking down at the Shinx next to him who seemed to be trying to speak up again.

"Um... Ri?" she asked, hesitantly looking up at the Lucario. "C-could you tell us more about yourself? Y-you're the Spirit of Faith right?"

"I am but as you might know, I've lost my memories..." The Lucario sighed, walked over to the reception and leaned against it. "I wouldn't even know about the whole Spirit of Faith thing if Cobal hadn't told me..."

"I was talking with those two about you before you showed up," Teky said from behind his counter. "We are wondering how you got caught up in all of this..."

"Uhm... I'm still trying to figure that out myself... The only thing I have found out until now is that it has something to do with the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest," Ri responded.

The three other Pokemon processed this for a second before Storm spoke up with a thoughtful look. "I assume you're also hoping to find out more about your situation by finding the other Time Gears."

The Lucario nodded. "Yeah, that's the second reason I'm collecting them. Right now there's nothing else I can tell you about this whole mess."

"Um... T-that's too bad," Pyro responded a little dishearted.

"Anything else you want to ask me?" Ri questioned.

"Not really," Storm answered, turning towards the Shinx next to him. "I guess we should get going then. With a Slowpoke like her it's going to take us more than a day to get to Treasure Town," he teased, ruffling up the fur between her ears.

"S-stop it!" The blue cat-like Pokemon quickly back away from him and fixed her fur with her paw. Ri took notice of the very visible blush on the Shinx's face and raised and eye-brow. 'Why is she blushing-' Her thought abruptly ended when she spaced out all of a sudden.

_'Are they a couple or does she just have a crush on him? Hmm... Does it really matter? Let's see if I can mess with them a little.' _Ri leaned off the counter and gave both explorers a grin. "You know, next time we see each other we'll have a real battle. I still owe you a beat down after what happened yesterday."

She walked up to Storm and leaned down to him, grabbing onto his right shoulder with her right paw and bringing her face next to his ear. "You in particular owe me a lot more than just a fight," she whispered in a seductive tone, loud enough for Pyro to hear it. "I was bothered _all _night from those images you put in my head with that Attract of yours."

Smirking, she gave the Shinx next to her a quick glance and found that she was looking at her with a shocked expression and an even deeper blush than before.

Storm himself was in a similar state. When the Spirit of Faith got back up again, she saw that the orange Pikachu had a very obvious blush on his already red cheeks and was unable to form any kind of verbal response.

Pyro's utterly shocked look turned into a half-glare. "W-what?!"

That reaction was what Ri was hoping for. She couldn't even help herself when she burst out into laughter. "Hahaha! I'm just messing with you!"

Taking one step back and leaning onto the reception again, Ri winked at the two electric-types. "I'll see you in Treasure Town!"

Both of the weren't able to respond for quite a while. Their faces shifted from shock to confusion and then even more confusion while they processed the situation.

After regaining his composure, the Pikachu gave the Lucario in front of him a nervous smile while he scratched the spot under the scar on his left eye. "Y-yeah, see you in Treasure Town."

Pyro and Storm awkwardly waved at her and walked out of the front door, closing it behind them.

"Do you see now why I don't like it when you use Attract?!" Pyro's voice echoed through the wooden door before Ri burst out into another laughing fit.

The Buizel besides her was giving her a confused look. "What did you do to them?"

That question managed to snap the Lucario out of her laughter. Blinking a couple of times, she slowly realized what she had just done and turned embarrassed. 'Oh my god, why did I say that?' The girl tried to deny it but she had enjoyed to mess with them like this.

"Uhm... Forget it, it was nothing," she replied, facing the water-type behind the counter with a somewhat shameful look.

He shrugged in response. "Alright then... Do you want some breakfast while you wait for your friend? Some bread with berry jam?"

"Yes, some breakfast would be great now," Ri answered, letting out a sigh. This was a great opportunity to think of what to say to Cobal once Peon was finished. Eating might've helped to gear up that brain of hers.

Teky quickly brought the requested food and placed a huge plate with several slices of bread and jam onto the counter. "Here you go. This one is the last plate you get for free. You might be the Spirit of Faith but I have to live of something, you know..."

"Thank you." The Lucario dug into her breakfast and began to think. 'Okay... I could say that it really was just a sign of appreciation. I wanted to pay him back somehow and that was the first thing that came to my mind... Ugh... How would he respond to that though? Maybe I should...'

She kept on rambling in her head while the bread in front of her slowly but surely disappeared. Ri was finished after a couple of minutes but hadn't been able to come up with any proper explanation for her partner.

Just when Teky took her empty plate and walked into the backrooms, a voice from the stairs suddenly pulled Ri out of her thoughts.

"All done!" Peon exclaimed while she walked down the stairs.

A slightly less bandaged and Cobal was following closely behind the normal-type. His chest and the left side of his face were still covered by white cloth. His sword was strapped onto the side of the tattered belt he was wearing on his hip. His Megastone was loosely hanging down his neck as it wasn't covered by his scarf anymore.

Neither Ri or Cobal knew how to react so the two fighting-types just stared at each other in silence until Peon and the knight reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Normally I'd have him stay in bed for another day or so but your friend insisted on continuing your journey. He is allowed to travel again after that last, intense healing session but he shouldn't stress his body for the next three days. His wounds might be closed but it's still going to take some time for them to completely heal," Peon explained with a smile. "As for his eye... There has been some bleeding over night but after that Heal Pulse it should be fine. You can take off his bandage tomorrow evening. If he feels any pain just give him a Sitrus Berry or herbs with a pain-killing effect."

"Uhm... Okay. Thank you," Ri replied, returning a somewhat forced smile.

The green-eyed Audino took a quick glance between the two Lucario and clapped into her hands. "Alright then! Another patient done! Time to finish up the other one!" she said before she gave Ri a mischievous smirk. "I'm sure you two lovebirds have a lot to talk about."

A streak of crimson could be seen on both Lucario's faces after that remark. Ri was stuttering incoherent "Uhms" while Cobal cursed under his breath with a slight glare.

After giggling at their reaction, the normal-type turned around and walked up the stairs again. "This is good-bye if we don't see each other again. Don't get yourself into any more trouble, okay?"

"B-bye, Peon." The Spirit of Faith waved at her before she disappeared into the hallway on the first floor.

Awkward silence followed for what felt like a whole minute...

It was Ri who spoke up again first after a deep breath. She decided to tell him the best explanation she had come up with during her breakfast. "Uhm... I can explain. I... I really wanted to thank you for saving my life and a kiss was the first thing that came to my mind for some reason."

Cobal's unbandaged eye scanned her expression while she spoke. Aside from the nervousness, he noticed a hint of regret in it.

"But like I said... It was just a sign of appreciation..." she explained before a lump formed in her throat. The knight seemed to be hurt by the statement as a small frown formed on his face. Her next words wouldn't be any better.

Ri broke eye-contact and brought her left paw up to the desert-goggles on her neck to calm herself. "He... He might not know it yet but I'm already in love with Grovyle," she confessed with faint blush. She had never mentioned it to her current partner before. "The idea of loving a Pokemon always sounded crazy to me because I'm human but Grovyle just... Ugh, I don't know... I'm sorry... That kiss might've been a little too passionate."

"So there were no feelings behind it? It was your way to say thank you and nothing more?" Cobal asked, folding his arms.

Ri shamefully nodded. "Y-yeah... But... Uhm... W-what Grovyle did for me was just... He... He gave me everything when I had nothing. It might not have been long but the way he cared for me during the time we spent together put the stakes very high." A wry smile spread across her face. "If you want another kiss you'll have to excel that somehow before we meet him again."

It was true, if he could surpass Grovyle and turn her feelings for him even bigger than those for Grovyle then she could consider to return his affection. She was still unsure how she thought about the knight but that was the best thing she had come up with.

Cobal's eye slightly widened to that. Had she just given him a chance to fight for her with Grovyle? Did the Spirit of Faith really consider to feel about him this way?

After a short moment of silence to properly process all of this he returned her smile. "I see... Looks like the only thing I can do right now is to accept your present and be happy with it. I bet nobody from the other knights is going to believe me when I tell them that I got a kiss from the Spirit of Faith."

The girl responded with a giggle. "I bet they won't."

"As for surpassing Grovyle... Are you sure about this? Does our age difference really not bother you?" he asked nervously, unfolding his arms again.

Ri thought about it for a second. Sure, it was weird to date somebody that's ten years older than you but did it really bother her?

"No, it doesn't," she replied, rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh... Well, okay then..." He broke eye-contact and collected his thoughts as he wanted to tell her something as well. "It feels like a second chance somehow... Another girl enters my life and brings me nothing but trouble," Cobal said with a nostalgic smirk. "But I don't want to feel about you that way just because you remember me about Niobi that much... I don't want to see Niobi every time I look at you... The fact that you're the Spirit of Faith also gives me some things to worry about so... I... I'll have to think about it for while before I can decide whether I try to surpass Grovyle or not... For now it'd be best if we kept things between us as they were before..."

He faced her again with a smile. "Are you okay with that?"

"Sure thing." Ri gladly returned it before she let out a sigh of relief. 'Crisis averted...'

Just then the door behind the reception opened and Teky walked into the lobby with a small basket. "Oh, your friend is awake again?"

The two Lucario turned towards the Buizel, both glad that he hadn't entered the room any second earlier. If he had interrupted their conversation before Ri and Cobal had talked things out then they probably would've spent another hour with strange awkwardness between them.

"Good morning," Cobal greeted.

"Are you fit again?" the water-type asked with a smile as he placed the basket onto the counter.

"Yes... We'll be continuing our journey," the Lucario replied in a questioning tone, giving the girl next to him a quick glance.

"Yes, it'd be nice if we could reach the entrance to Boulder Quarry today," Ri answered.

"Well... I guess this is good-bye then," Teky the inn-keeper responded with a smile. "You two really brought some action into this little town, you know?"

Ri laughed nervously while Cobal let out a silent grunt of annoyance.

"Good-bye!"

**~ BGM: Like a dream come true - Persona 4 (Extended)**

With that the two headed out of the front door and onto the main street of Nagi Village. Just like the day before, many Pokemon were walking along the road, looking at the many market stalls that were placed next to the many buildings and tree houses.

"R-" Cobal cleared his throat. "J?"

Ri turned towards her partner with a confused look for a second until she remembered their agreement. Ri in private, J in public. "What is it?"

The Lucario pointed at the tattered belt on his hip. "I think we have a little problem. Most of my items seem to have been lost during my fight with Suke. It would be wise to resupply."

"Oh... Yeah, I think that would be smart." Ri looked around the many shops that were scatter all across the town while the knight next to her searched for something in his ripped up pouches.

"Ehm..." The sound of Cobal's voice brought her attention back to him. "I think we might have another problem..." He looked at her with an expression of annoyance. "All of my money is gone too..."

"W-what?!" Ri snapped with a shocked look.

"I don't have a single Poke, no food and water supplies and no healing items," he explained. "It looks like we're in a little predicament."

"Uhm... So what are we supposed to do now? I have some healing items on me but not a single Poke either," Ri responded. "Maybe we could sell something... Although I'm not sure if we get very far with only 25 Poke per berry."

Cobal sighed and folded his arms while he closed his eye for a moment. When he opened it again, his gaze fell onto the gold-decorated sword on Ri's hip. His expression lightened up a bit. "We could sell that fake sword... The gold on it should have quite the price."

"Are you sure you want to sell this?" Ri drew her sword from the holster on her belt and held it up in a backward grip. "You said that you got it from the king, right?"

The Lucario shook his head. "Yes, but I don't really have any use for a decorative item like that... Sure, I could hang it into my room at the castle or my father's old cave but as a knight I'm usually on missions outside of the capital. Before you showed up, it was supposed to be a present for my tribe."

"Uhm... Okay, then... I don't really have any use for it either." Ri took a look around the village yet again. "There has to be someone who would buy that sword for a good price.

After walking down the busy street and passing a couple of villagers and explorers, the two fighting-types came across a little stall that seemed to sell a wide variety of tools, knifes, swords and even light armors. A Frogadier, a blue, frog-like Pokemon with a smoking pipe in it's mouth was standing behind the counter.

Cobal mentioned to Ri that there were a lot of smiths in Alteal's market district and that the water-type was probably one of them, trying sell his wares here on Treasure.

They walked up to the presumed smith, getting its attention.

"Oh, are you interested in my wares?" the frog asked with a male voice, puffing out a small cloud of smoke.

A slight headache shot through Ri's head and the Frogadier seemed to be overlapped by a familiar, black flickering figure for a split second when she saw this.

_"Are you seriously telling a fire-type that smoking is bad for them? I can spit fucking fire, J-"_

She shook her head at the unpleasant sensation, the memories of the voice she had just remembered already too scattered to be recollected again.

Cobal and the Frogadier luckily hadn't noticed that she had spaced out for a second.

"I have to admit that you have some fine wares but we actually wanted to ask if we could sell something to you," Cobal explained, giving the Lucario next to him a quick glance.

Ri had already regained her composure and held out the gold-decorated sword to the stall-owner with her left hand. "Uhm... How much would you give us for this sword?"

The water-type slowly gazed down at the blade and looked at it for a second before his eyes suddenly widened and his pipe almost fell out of his mouth. "I-Is that the Sword of Alteal?" His eyes moved up Ri's burned arm and stopped at her face. "A-are you the Spirit of Faith?"

"Yup," she replied with a nervous chuckle.

It took the water-type a moment to pull himself back together. "So the legend really is true... I guess if you're here then there must be another disaster on it's way." He took another drag from his pipe. "I won't freak out and drill you with questions. I'm sure you'll be able to handle whatever is going on right now..."

Exhaling again, he took the weapon out of Ri's paw and inspected it for a while. "I didn't see it at first glance but this is just a replica and not even sharp. Hmm... There's actually quite a lot gold worked into the decorations. I could use this piece as a template for customers that want swords that are on the fancier side." The smith mumbled to himself before he placed the sword onto the counter and folded his arms, letting out another cloud of smoke. After a short moment of silence the Frogadier looked at the two Lucario in front of his stall with a serious look.

...

"12.000 Poke."

...

Ri had to blink a couple of times before her brain was able to process this. "Uhm... Excuse me, did you just say 12.000 Poke?"

Cobal was equally surprised. "That's... more than expected."

"There are only 8 copies of that decorative sword out there. You could say that it is somewhat of a rare collector's item," the water-type explained.

"Well, you've got yourself a deal then," Ri responded with a grin, her eyes seemingly turning into Poke coins.

After kneeling down a fiddling around under the counter for a moment the smith pulled out four small leather satchels of money. "There you go, 3.000 Poke per bag."

"Thank you," Cobal said after quickly counting the money, giving two of the satchels to Ri and putting the other two into the pouch on his belt that wasn't as ripped up as the others.

"Nice having business with you," the Frogadier said, putting his pipe into his mouth.

Cobal turned to Ri. "I think it would be best if we split up. See if you can buy us some food and water... A tent that fit into a backpack would also be good to have. I'll look for a new belt and healing items. Let's meet up at the crossroad in the middle if the village after we're finished.

She nodded and turned around, putting the two satchels of money into a pouch on her belt.

...

Twenty minutes and a lot of shopping later, the two of them met up again.

Ri had bought the requested supplies with a leather backpack for them and even found two small tents at a stall that sold equipment for explorers and travelers. The backpack was already strapped to her back, her rolled up, dark-green tent tied on top of it.

She had also been looking for some Dark Gems to deal with her Demon's Embrace problem but sadly none of the merchants had sold them.

Cobal was equipped with a new belt and an actual scabbard for his sword. The blade was safely concealed inside the black sheath of leather that was attached to his hip. His new pouches were filled with all kinds of different items he had found useful for their travels.

"You bought two tents?" the bandaged knight asked when she handed the second tent over to him.

Ri spaced out for a second before a mischievous smirk spread across her face. "You seem a little disappointed... We're you hoping that you could snuggle up to me in the middle of the night if we slept together in one tent?"

He was caught off guard and his mask cracked, causing him to turn a little embarrassed. "N-no! I was just asking because a good tent for travelers usually costs 500 Poke!" He silently growled and turned his head away from her to hide his embarrassed look. "H-how much money do you have left anyway?"

She had to blush herself when she realized what she had just said and a couple of images formed in her mind. Shaking her head, Ri pushed the thoughts away and began to laugh nervously. "Uhm... 5500."

"What? You only paid 500 Poke for everything?" Cobal turned back to her with a look of surprise, not really able to believe her.

"I might've gotten a lot of discounts because I'm the Spirit of Faith," she admitted, scratching her chin with her paw.

He closed his eye and let out a sigh. "I've used up almost all of my money... I'm down at 400 Poke..."

"We still have some money left then... Uhm... Should we take another look around the shops and see if we can find anything useful?" the Spirit of Faith asked.

The male Lucario shook his head and moved his gaze towards the end of the street. "I think we should save it in case we have to stay at another settlement."

"Okay... Let's get going then."

...

They made their way towards an wooden archway at the edge of Nagi Village, to the road that led deeper into the jungle.

Just when they were about to pass the last couple of buildings, Ri suddenly stopped in her tracks as a peculiar sign that was hanging above the entrance of one of the houses caught her attention.

**_Bornett's Boutique_**

"Cobal?" she called, causing her partner to stop as well and turn around.

"What is it, J?" he replied.

"A boutique sells clothes, right?" she asked, blurry memories of walking through a shopping district with Elly rushing through her mind.

The knight walked up to her and looked up at the sign. "Uuh... I guess?" he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Before he could even ask why she had stopped in front of this shop, she had already grabbed him by his hand and dragged him into the building.

**~ Switch music: I think this is also good - Bravely Second (Extended)**

Immediately upon entering, Ri was met with the sight of a room with a wooden floor and walls that was filled with shelves. Several clothing items were put out for display in them. At the other side of the room was a small counter and a door behind it. A small cabin, which she assumed to be a changing room was at the right corner of the room. A mirror was hanging on a wall at the room's left corner.

A wave of nostalgia rushed over Ri while she walked up to the first shelf and looked at the wares. Shirts, dresses, vests and coats cut for many different species were up for sale.

"Ehm... Why are we buying clothes?" Cobal questioned after getting out of her grasp and closing the door behind them.

Ri, who had already taken a blue vest into her hands, turned around and gave him a horrifying stare, her eyes appearing to be yellow glints. "Do you have any idea how it feels for a human to run around half-naked all the time?"

He turned a confused and was a little startled by that reaction. "D-does clothing matter that much to humans? The custom of wearing clothes is usually only used by rich Pokemon in Alteal..."

"Customers?" a male voice suddenly came from the door behind the counter.

A Honedge, a ghostly living sword, was floating through the doorway, looking at the two Lucario with a wide open eye.

"Uhm, hi!" Ri greeted, placing the clothing in her paws back onto the shelf.

"Hello," Cobal said.

"Welcome to my humble shop, I am Bornett." The ghost-type floated closer to the two fighting-types until he recognized something and his eye widened even further. "D-dear Arceus... A-are you...?" he asked, his gaze fixed onto Ri's burned right arm.

"In the flesh," Ri replied with a forced smile, suppressing the urge to growl because of the staring.

"I can't believe it..." Bornett said with a gasp. "Do you even know that you're the reason my ancestors were able to sell the clothes we made? You're the Pokemon that introduced the trend of wearing clothes in Alteal!"

"I-I did?" Ri asked with a confused expression.

It did make sense though... She was supposed to be able to travel through time and probably would wear clothes in one of her appearances in the past.

The girl turned to her bandaged partner with a pout. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He raised his arms defensively and backed off a little. "I didn't know. I never cared for trends like that."

Ri turned back to the shop-keeper. "Uhm... Do you have something that would fit a Lucario?"

"A-are you asking me to give you an outfit?" Bornett stuttered, not really able to comprehend that _the_ Spirit of Faith wanted _him_ to pick out clothes for her.

Ri smiled. "It doesn't have to be a whole outf- Whoa!" The Lucario was interrupted mid-sentence as the Honedge wrapped his cloth-like "arm" around her wrist and pulled her towards the small cabin right of the counter.

Almost in an instant, Ri and the ghost-type disappeared behind a curtain.

Cobal slowly followed them while the Honedge quickly floated in and out of the cabin, carrying out Ri's gear and carrying in a couple of clothing items from the shelves and the room behind the counter.

The knight leaned onto one of the shelves and folded his arms as he continued to watch them.

"W-whoa! What's with the blindfold?!" Ri's voice yelled, strange noises coming from behind the curtain. "H-hey! Watch where you're touching me!"

Cobal's eye widened when Bornett led the girl out of the cabin and stopped her in front of the mirror on the left side of the room.

"Alright. Take a look," the Honedge said, pulling of the blindfold.

When Ri opened her eyes and they adjusted themselves to her image in the mirror, she met the sight of a black dress with with short, curly, white sleeves, a white apron above it and a white maid cap on her head. Two holes were cut into the dress, one for her chest-spike and one to make place for her tail.

Ri's left eye twitched while a faint blush crept onto her face. "U-uhm... Is this a maid outfit?"

Bornett gave her an eye-smile. "You look great in that!"

"N-no! This is embarrassing!" the Lucario snapped, turning towards the ghost-type with an embarrassed look. "Couldn't you have given me something normal?"

The Honedge just let out a chuckle in response.

When Ri's gaze moved towards her partner, she saw him looking at her with a perverted grin, his right eye closed, a faint blush on his visible cheek and some drool running down his mouth.

In his mind the knight was currently somewhere else. In a dreamy version of his room in Alteal's castle with Ri dressed as a maid standing in front of him to be precise.

_"M-master?" Ri asked as she hesitantly looked up into his eyes, tightly clutching the tray in her paws. "I-is there anything else I can do for you?"_

...

"Cobal!" Ri yelled, pulling the knight out of his fantasy.

He shook his head to push away the images and exhaled to regain his composure. "Oh, I'm sorry. Seeing you like this just brought back some memories," he lied, doing his best to keep up a blank expression. "You look just like the maids back at the castle."

'Are you fucking kidding me?' Ri sweatdropped while her shoulders slumped down. After letting out a sigh she unawarely grinned to herself all of a sudden, stealthily looking at Cobal with a mischievous glint in her eyes. _'I bet he just had a weird fantasy about me serving him as a maid... Heh... That's some ammunition I can use to mess with him when he gets on my nerves.'_

Shaking her head, the Spirit of Faith turned back to the shop-keeper. "I'm not wearing this!"

Bornett held up his arm defensively. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I just didn't have an opportunity to see that outfit on someone before."

"Can't you just let me decide on what I want to-" Ri tried to ask but was interrupted yet again as the Honedge covered her eyes and pulled her back into the cabin.

"God dammit! What are you doing?" After another minute of strange noises and shaking from the curtain, Bornett presented his next outfit.

"Okay, here's the next one," he said, pulling of the blindfold again.

Ri was now wearing a long, pink dress with short sleeves that could've been tailored for a princess. She even had a small tiara on her head. Her tail and chest-spike were hidden under the cloth this time.

The Lucario's left eye twitched once more, a little more violent than before. It wasn't because the dress wasn't beautiful or because she didn't like to wear feminine clothing... "It's fucking pink..."

Wearing pink simply triggered her somehow.

"You look amazing in that," Bornett said while he admired his work.

"You really look like a princess with that," Cobal commented with no particular reaction in his expression. "If it were white you'd look just like Princess Olivia as a Lucario."

He gave her a smile. "Maybe you really are Princess Faith after all?"

Ri frowned at the question as it brought back some embarrassing memories from the guild. "Ugh... Can't you just let me pick something on my own?" she asked Bornett. "I want something that fits for travelling and doesn't get torn into shreds if I get into a fight with it..."

The floating sword put on a thoughtful look for a second. "Hmm... I think I might have an outfit that would suit your needs. You can get out of that dress while I look for it," he said, floating towards the doorway behind the counter.

After a few minutes, Ri and Cobal were standing in front of the counter and Bornett floated back into a room with three items in his ghostly arm. After placing the clothes onto the table, he picked up the first one and showed it to them.

It was a black dress with short sleeves. A hole was tailored into the area where a Lucario's chest-spike would've been as well as an opening for a tail.

"Here, this battle dress is cut for a Lucario. It's made of Furfrou and Umbreon fur, webbed into one of the sturdiest cloths out there. The Umbreon fur even gives it some resistance against dark-type attacks," he explained, handing the dress over to the female fighting-type.

"Really? Normal clothes can do that?" she asked, giving the item a closer look.

The Honedge nodded. "It's not much. But dark energy is repelled a bit."

Ri didn't waste any time and put on the dress right away. The tightly fitting piece of clothing was a little on the short side and ended at the middle of her thighs, her tail would luckily keep the bottom of the dress in place however. Her chest-spike fit perfectly through the little opening made for it.

The way her fur brushed against the clothing was a little uncomfortable but she was willing to bear with that. A human who hadn't been properly clothed for weeks could deal with a little itching.

Ri walked over to her gear and picked up her belt. After putting it onto her hip above the dress, she turned back to the other two Pokemon in the room. "That's awesome! My belt even fits above it!"

"It looks great," both Bornett and Cobal complimented.

The Honedge handed over the next item.

It was a long-sleeved, white jacket with a hood on its back. A zipper, that made a little curve around the opening for a chest-spike, was used hold the jacket together. Two pointy extensions for a Lucario's ears had been tailored onto the hood.

"You can wear this jacket above it. It's also made of Furfrou fur and just as sturdy as the dress," Bornett explained, giving Ri the jacket.

She took it and looked down at it, a slight look of distaste appearing on her face. "This remembers me about my old dessert coat." Memories about Riley and Ozu were surfacing from her mind but she pushed them away before she could lose herself in guilt again.

"It looks awesome," Ri said with a smile. She quickly put it on but let the zipper open. The jacket conveniently ended right above her belt, not hindering her access to her pouches.

Her gaze moved down to her now concealed left arm for a second, a strange feeling welling up inside of her. For some reason she felt bad for covering the scorched fur.

Shaking the weird emotion away, Ri turned back to Bornett and Cobal. The Honedge already had the last piece of clothing in his ghostly hand.

"And this should finish the outfit," he said, holding out a rather big, red ribbon out to her. A little, black gemstone was worked into the seam the held the knot together.

"A ribbon?" the Spirit of Faith replied, taking the ribbon into her hand.

"Just to give the whole outfit a little touch. I think the color fits well with the others," Bornett explained.

Cobal just looked down at the accessory with a curious look.

"Hmm..." Ri inspected it for a moment before she grabbed onto the ribbons ends and pulled the apart, severing the stitches that held it together.

"Eeh?!" Bornett was looking at her with a shocked expression. Cobal just turned a little surprised.

The fighting-type quickly tied the long, red string of cloth around her right upper arm above her jacket, letting the remaining cloth fall down to her lower one. It was just like with the scarf Riley and Ozu had given to her. She simply preferred to wear those kinds of accessories like this.

"What do you think?" she asked with a grin, turning her right shoulder to the other two Pokemon in the room.

"Ehm... It looks good on you," the shop-keeper answered, still slightly unsettled by the way she just "destroyed" the ribbon he had tailored with so much love.

"I agree," Cobal added.

"What kind of gem is that by the way?" Ri questioned, touching the gemstone that was attached to her ribbon.

"A small Dark Gem," Bornett explained. "Unless you know any dark-type moves, it's useless to you in battle. So why not wear it as an accessory? It looks pretty, doesn't it?"

"A Dark Gem, huh?" Ri repeated, fiddling around with the gem while she lost herself in her thoughts.

'This seems a little too convenient but I guess I can be lucky too sometimes. I can activate Demon's Embrace on my own with this gem... As long as I do it before I get any nightmares I won't go berserk and can actually fight with the strength I get from it.'

"So how much does all of this cost?" Ri asked, letting go of the gem and facing the ghost-type again.

"Usually those three items would cost you 7000 Poke but I guess I can give you fifty percent off. You're the reason I'm even able to sell these clothes after all," Bornett answered with an eye-smile.

'And another discount...' Ri let out a nervous chuckle, ignoring Cobal's annoyed stare.

"So 3500..." Ri picked out the two satchels of money from her gear and headed the charged Poke over to the shop-keeper.

"Thank you... Nice having business with you," the ghost-type thankfully received the money and stored it away behind his counter.

Bornett turned to the bandaged Lucario next to Ri. "What about your friend? Does he need an outfit too?"

With a grin and a mischievous glint in her eyes, she looked at him with the corner of her view. "You could let him try the maid outfit. He seemed to like it when I was wearing it."

He reacted with a slightly startled expression and tried his best not to create eye-contact with the girl. "Ehm... I'd rather not."

"We still have about 3000 Poke left... Why don't you try out some clothes too?" Ri asked, her gaze moving around the many other clothes that had been put out for display.

"I'll stick with a simple scarf if you have any blue ones," the knight said to Bornett.

"Hmm... I sadly sold the last blue scarf in my inventory a few days ago," he replied with an apologetic look. "I can offer you grey, red or pink though..."

"Oh! He'll take the pink one!" Ri immediately yelled with a bright smile.

A thick mark appeared on Cobal's head while he let out a low growl in response. "Grey, please..."

"One grey scarf then." The ghostly sword disappeared in the back room for a moment and returned with the requested item.

Cobal tied the long grey scarf around his neck and let the remaining cloth fall down at his back, covering the Mega Stone that hanging down onto his collarbone. "I'll take it."

"That'll be 500 Poke, please!" Bornett replied with another eye-smile.

After paying and storing away her money, Ri tied her broken dessert-goggles around her neck and put on the rest of her gear again. "I think we're done here then."

"I'll never forget this day, _the_ Spirit of Faith bought an outfit from _my _shop!" the Honedge cheered to himself, floating up and down with joy before he looked back at the two Lucario. "Will come by Treasure Town in the next couple of days? I'll open a small stall at the main plaza for the festival that's supposed to be there."

"A festival in Treasure Town?" Ri and Cobal repeated in union. They hadn't heard of any kind of festival during their visit to the guild.

"I don't know the details but a lot of other merchants have decided to set up their stalls for it. You should really visit if you're not too busy with saving the world," Bornett responded.

The female Lucario decided to keep that information at the back of her head. 'Does Wigglytuff's surprise, Celsius was talking about, have anything to do with it?'

"I don't know if we have finished out business by then but yes, we have planned to travel to Treasure Town," Cobal answered for both of them while Ri was absent for a second.

"We'll be on our way then. Thank you for the clothes," Cobal said, turning towards the exit.

He noticed that Ri was staring into the air with a disappointed look on her face. She had tried to contact Celsius but just like back at the inn, she didn't get any response.

Shaking her head, the girl faced the Honedge again. "Uhm... Yeah, good-bye."

"Nice having business with you," Bornett replied.

The two fighting-types walked towards the exit of the shop, however, when Cobal was just about the door, Ri suddenly stopped. Something on a shelve had caught her attention.

"What's wrong?" the scarf-wearing knight asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ri gave him a smile. "Oh, I just noticed something I'd like to take another look at. I'll come after you in a minute."

Cobal turned a little confused but figured that she probably found another piece of clothing she wanted to buy. With a shrug, he left the shop and stepped back onto the busy street.

**~ Stop music**

Two minutes later, Ri followed him outside. The girl had strange grin on her face for some reason.

"Did you buy something else?" Cobal asked with an unsure expression as there weren't any new clothes on her.

Ri wanted to answer with a simple "Maybe". Before she could open her mouth however the Lucario suddenly spaced out again. A mischievous smirk spread across her lips. _'Time to use that ammunition...'_

Taking one step forward and violating Cobal's private, she submissively looked up at the now startled fighting-type. "Y-yes, Master... You seemed to like me in that maid-outfit so I thought I would buy it."

His jaw instantly dropped, a blush shot onto his bandaged face and a tickle of blood ran down his nose after hearing her say that.

Ri inspected the frozen Lucario's reaction for a moment before she backed off again and burst out in laughter. "Hahaha! Oh my god, you really believe me for a second there, didn't you? Ahaha!"

She kept laughing while she walked past the knight and towards the archway that led out of Nagi Village. Some bystander noticed her weird behavior but she didn't let them faze her. _'Oh god, I wish Elly could've seen that!'_

It was only after she already reached the gate that she realized what she just said and stopped laughing. Turning embarrassed, her paws moved up to her desert-goggles. She tried to deny it again but she had liked to mess with Cobal like that. The girl just couldn't stop giggling at his reaction.

Looking back at the Lucario, she saw that he had already regained his composure and was taking his first step to follow after her.

Ri moved her gaze back towards the jungle in front of her, took one deep breath and put on wry smile. After all the mess they had been through in that village, they would finally continue their mission.

* * *

**End of Chapter - 43**

* * *

_Another one done! _

_By now you really should've noticed that something is up with our protagonist... Those sudden changes of personality must've been caused by something, right? *smirk*  
_

_I hope that little sign of appreciation triggered some of you theorists out there._

_We're finally getting back into action in the next chapter. I hope you're gonna like what I have planned for Team Charm. This will be the first detailed fight with mega-evolved Pokemon after all. There will be damage. (Wanna guess which one of the girls from Team Charm is able to Mega Evolve? Hehehe...)  
_

_With that many concept scenes it shouldn't be too hard to step it up and go fast. _

_(I wonder if we'll crack the 100 Review milestone this chapter...)_

_Next time: Chapter 44 - Dramatic Entrance!_

* * *

**_Comment? Questions? Suggestions? Leave a review! _**


	45. Dramatic Entrance!

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - SoF - Twist in Time**

_Hello again! _

_Sorry for the long wait... But motivation and energy is a bit lacking when a lot is going on at work. Gotta get money for food. Food is very important._

_Uhm... Enough excuses..._

_We're finally getting started with the Limestone Cavern Episodes, if you want to call it like that. The concept scenes I mentioned last time are all for the fight itself so writing the way there was still kind of a struggle because I had some ideas that I wanted to implement. Making them work out and connect with some of the stuff that will be going on in the future chapters was the hard part.  
_

_..._

_**Guest Review Answer Corner:**_

_**ArcticWolfProd:** Did I really sound mad to you? Uhm... Don't worry, I'm not._

_..._

_What is it with me and long chapters lately? _

_Word count is over 9000! *sweatdrops* (9150)  
_

_I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! Oh! And thank you for 100 reviews by the way! Another milestone done!_

* * *

**Chapter 44 - Dramatic Entrance! **

* * *

'I-I'm not like that, right?'

Ri and Cobal were walking on the wide path that led through the jungle's vegetation. She had been bothered by something ever since they had left Nagi Village.

Teasing her partner by submitting herself as a maid for him had put quite the awkwardness between them. Ri didn't know why but apparently she enjoyed to tease her partner like that. But since she simply couldn't imagine herself acting in such an embarrassing way, the question of why she had done it was currently nagging at her head.

This wasn't Ri's actual problem however... The reason she was in such an unsettled mood was because everytime the Lucario tried to answer the lingering question in her head, she would immediately turn flustered and go into denial. It was almost as if she subconsciously didn't want to answer it.

Cobal took note of his partner's seemingly random changes in expression and nervous glances at him. He decided not to bother her though.

After about half and hour of silent walking, the two Lucario finally reached their destination.

...

"It's been a while since I've last been here..." Cobal said as he gazed around the area.

Slim rays of sunlight were shining through the leaves above them. The heavily overgrown treeline that had suddenly appeared before them was a clear sign that they were right in front of the Mystery Dungeon's circular border now.

Ri faced her partner with a somewhat nervous smile. "Finally able to talk again, huh?"

"You shouldn't distract us with silly jokes like that," Cobal replied in a stern tone.

She looked away with a light blush and pushed her fingers together in front of her. "Y-yeah... Sorry about that..."

"Anyway, how do you want to clear this dungeon? I'm sure my fighting skills are going to suffer from my impaired sight but I think I can-" he tried to say but the girl interrupted him.

"You really think I'm going to let you fight in that condition? Peon said you have to take it easy for the next three days," Ri said with a serious look. "I'll do the fighting in there."

The female Lucario raised her right fist up and radiated some aura from it. "Her potion wore off this morning, so I'm back at full strength." She suddenly spaced out for a second, a grin of excitement spreading across her face.

"Those are my fights..." she muttered to herself.

Cobal noticed the strange look in her eyes but didn't think too much into it. She was probably eager for a real fight after not having proper access to her aura for a whole day.

"Uhm... Do you think you can carry my backpack? It will be easier for me to protect you that way," Ri asked, her hand wandering onto the strap of her bag.

The knight responded with a look of disapproval. "I am a royal knight of Alteal... There's no way I'd let a comrade fight on their own."

_'I'm a royal pedophile of Alteal...' _Ri did her best to hold back a laugh. She managed to look at him with puffed up cheeks for a moment before she couldn't hold it back anymore and let out a snort.

Cobal turned a little angry by this. "Now what's funny about that?"

Ri forced herself to calm down and immediately pushed the inappropriate thought away before she faced her partner with an apologetic look. "Uhm... S-sorry about that." Turning serious again, the female Lucario gave her partner a stern look. "Look, Suke was supposed to be my fight. It's only fair if I took one of yours in return."

"But it's my duty to-" he couldn't finish his sentence as she interrupted him.

"You're just as much of a comrade to me as I am to you. It's my turn to protect you and that's it," the Spirit of Faith said in a commanding tone. "Understood?"

Cobal stared her for a second before he broke eye-contact and let out a silent growl. "Fine... Give me your backpack."

"Wasn't too hard, was it?" Ri replied, handing over her bag and rolled up tent.

While the knight took the equipement and strapped it onto his back, the girl straightended her jacket by throwing her shoulders up a bit. Her body had gotten used to the constant pressure on her fur and the initial discomfort of her dress had disappeared.

"By the way..." Cobal said, regaining her attention. "You said that this Dewott is going to stalk you, correct? I've been trying to sense his aura ever since I woke up this morning but couldn't find a single trace of it."

"Uhm... Are you sure you didn't feel anything?" she asked in response.

The scarf-wearing knight nodded. "I am."

Spacing out all of a sudden, Ri folded her arms and put on a thoughtful expression. _'He's not feeling Suke's aura... Which means that he has either lied and isn't following me or somehow able to hide his aura. But considering that he is able to use Extremespeed, we can say that he has perfect control over his energy. I'm sure there is a way to supress your aura through meditation or some sort of training so I'd go with the second option. And if he isn't supressing his aura naturally then there's also the possibility of him using some sort of item that can hide your presence.'_

"Ri?" Cobal asked, pulling the Spirit of Faith out of her deductions.

Blinking a couple of times, Ri raised her head to face her partner. "Huh? What is it?"

"You just spaced out all of a sudden," he explained. "Were you thinking about something?"

"Oh! Uhm... I was just wondering if Suke might be hiding from you by supressing his aura somehow. Maybe with some sort of meditation or item," she replied. Now that her partner had mentioned it, she felt rather strange about the way she had just spaced out. She had felt similar when she had solved some of their time travel-related problems back at the inn.

"Hmm... You might be right about that," Cobal replied with a thoughtful nod.

Ri averted her gaze for a second, going over the episode in her head. 'What was that? Why did the way I just tried to solve some kind of mystery feel so familiar? Did I have to-'

"Ngh..." A sudden headache caused her to grit her teeth.

...

_Black and white images of different locations flashed before her eyes and with every new memory of a scenery, muffled voices rang through her head._

_"There has been a murder..." she heard while she remembered some sort of wooden building. "Something's off about this... There isn't enough blood in this room for the body to be covered by that many cuts. The murder must've taken place somewhere else..."_

_"Those runes have to mean something right?" she heard as the static image of a ruin flashed through her mind. "Take a closer look... That particular set of runes only appears on those broken down pillars. If they would still be standing then that area over there would look similar to a doorway, see? Maybe they say where that doorway would've led."_

_"You're pretty good at this deduction stuff." Another muffled voice said while she saw another building but the image suddenly faded and her whole vision got covered by static._

_The silhouette of very familiar black familiar figure slowly formed inside the flickering memory and her own voice rang through her ears before everything turned black.  
_

_"Looks like I'm slowly getting the hang of this, huh?"_

_..._

"Ri?" Cobal's voice managed to snap Ri out of the memory shred.

She blinked yet again, her headache slowly fading again. "Huh?"

"You're spacing out a lot recently... Are you okay?" the scarfed knight asked with a concerned look.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine... Just a lot of memory shreds recently," she tried to assure him.

"Another memory?" the Lucario repeated, slightly curious now. "What did you remember?"

"I'm not sure... Something about a murder and runes... I think I knew somebody who was pretty good at uncovering mysteries..." she said, still trying to piece the new information together. "Let's talk about it later, okay?"

"Okay then..." Cobal replied, turning towards the entrance of the dungeon.

Ri hesitated for a moment before she followed as she still had to recover. One of her paws unawarely reached up to the broken goggles around her neck. 'So I was able to think like that before I lost my memory, huh? I guess I picked that up from whoever that figure was...'

Shaking off the light exhaustion, the female Lucario blinked and quickly walked after her partner, an almost invisible glint of purple permanently appearing in her eyes.

...

The two Lucario headed into the opening and entered Southern Jungle's Mystery Dungeon. Everything around them faded into blackness for a second before the scenery of a rather spacious room appeared again. It had walls made of dense jungle vegetation, a floor made of muddy soil and a ceiling made out of dark-green leaves.

"Uhm..." Ri took a look around the room and took note of the three openings they could pass through. "I guess we go that way?" she said in a somewhat questioning tone, picking the hallway to their left.

The first couple of floors did give them some trouble. Ri seemed to have an unlucky hand at picking out their route as they came across the dungeon's illusions everytime she chose a way to go.

She quickly dealt with the many grass, bug and poison-types that got into their way with her Gentle Knockout Style or by simple hand-to-hand combat with one of her Beatdown technique combos. Somehow she was even a little happy about her bad luck. Those illusions were good training after all and a fight always excited her.

The dungeon did have some traps but Ri and Cobal managed to avoid them for the most part. The few poison dart traps they ran into luckily didn't affect them due to their steel-like skin.

On the later floors, things didn't really change. The only difference was that Ri went from stumbling across single encounters to Monster Houses. They didn't pose much of a threat to the Spirit of Faith either, however.

...

After clearing the final floor, the previous scenery of the Southern Jungle reappeared around them. A pathway that led deeper into the heart of the jungle could now be seen in front of the two fighting-types. About two hours must've passed during their exploration as the position of the sun hadn't really changed all to much. It was only early afternoon.

"I guess time outside of the dungeon must've passed slower than inside this time," Cobal said while they began to walk down the path.

"Uhm... I guess we can be lucky too once in a while," Ri replied. "We have a little longer to prepare that way."

"Should we spend a night in the jungle before we confront Team Charm?" Cobal asked in return. "Fighting inside the dungeon for four straight hours must've tired you out."

The female Lucario did feel exhausted but didn't let it on. "I'm fine, really... Uhm... But I guess we could spend the evening coming up with some sort of strategy or maybe some training."

"You want to train after all that fighting?" the knight asked with some concern in his voice.

"You have to use every chance you get," she said with a smile. "Even one hour of training can make a huge difference!"

Cobal folded his arms and stared onto the ground in front of him. "I guess that's a way to look at it..."

...

The two Lucario continued to make their way towards their destination. After an hour of walking they reached a rather familiar clearing with a huge cave entrance at one side and a burned out fire-pit at the other one. Two logs were placed besides it, acting as sitting opporunities.

"This is the clearing where I spent my last night with Grovyle..." Ri commented as memories of the grass-type flashed through her mind.

_"I never thought that you would be able to use a move like that..."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"Then tell me why you don't like the idea of being infatuated by me!"_

_"I... I had a crush on you back then..."_

'I wonder what would've happened if I had told him that I liked him back then...' For some reason that trail of thought caused an inappropriate idea to rush through her mind. Scared that Cobal might've misunderstood her last sentence she quickly faced him with a slightly panicked expression to explain herself. "N-not spending it that way! I-I meant that it was the last night before we got seperated!"

The knight blinked and responded with a look of annoyance after a moment. "Err... I wouldn't even have gotten that implication if you hadn't told me that second part..."

Ri rubbed the back of her head, a light blush appearing on her face. "A-ah... Uhm... Sorry..." She lowered her arm again and moved her gaze at the burned out fire-pit at the other edge of the clearing. "Uhm... I don't think those were there the last time."

"Do you think Team Charm might've set up their camp here?" the knight asked in return.

They slowly made their way over to the empty fire-pit and inspected the area. Ri immediately put up a throughtful expression upon doing so. "Hmm... The pit seems to have burned out quite a while ago." She crouched down to their point of interest and looked up at her partner. "There isn't a lot of ash left, see?"

Cobal simply nodded. "So they're not here anymore."

"Uhm... I'd say they're waiting somewhere inside the quarry or at the entrance to Limestone Cavern. We can build up our tents without having to worry about them for now," Ri answered, aware that she hadn't spaced out during her deductions. The girl remembered that she used to be that way now.

The two Lucario placed their bags next to the two logs. After unpacking their rolled up tents and pulling out the single components, they began to build up their sleeping places of tonight.

Ri only needed a few minutes to finish her tent.

"Whew... All done..." the female Lucario said, wiping some sweat off her forehead and readjusting her dress and jacket. A curse from her right caused her to look at her partner again.

"I swear to Arceus!" Cobal was having a rather hard time putting the dark-green top onto the unstable frame he had built. As soon as he placed the piece of cloth on top of it, it immediately broke down again. "Dammit!"

Ri sniggered at the sight. "Need some help?"

The knight faced her with gritted teeth and a severely annoyed look on his face. "No, thank you! I am a royal knight of Alteal and as such, very capable of building up my own tent."

_'Royal pedo-'_ This time Ri stopped herself before the stray thought could rush through her mind. Shaking her head to push it away, she gave her partner a wry smile.

"Uhm... I'll fix up something to eat in the meantime," Ri said, grabbing some berries out of her backpack.

After a couple of minutes, after Cobal had finally managed to build up a botchy mess of a tent and Ri cooked them some berry skewers on their fire-pit, the two Lucario enjoyed a quick meal together. They didn't talk about much during that... Only a short conversations about the food at Alteal's Castle rose up while they ate.

When both were finished and discarded their skewers into the fire, Ri brought up a more serious topic.

**~ BGM: Mistic - Persona 3 (Extended)**

"Uhm..." The girl fiddled around with one of the pouches on her belt. "I guess I should show you what I can do with the Time Gear now..." she said, pulling out the artifact. The symbol on the back of her right hand immediately began to glow in the usual dim light upon doing so.

Cobal's uncovered eye lit up with curiosity while he gave the Time Gear and the symbol on Ri's hand a little closer inspection. "You're going to show me another timeline?"

"I'll try, yes..." She nodded in response, got up from the log and focused her gaze onto the turquoise gear. Some memories about her experiences from yesterday caused her to hesitate however.

'Wait... What if I pull in another timeline where another version of me is sleeping with someone?' A nervous smile of annoyance wandered onto her face, confusing her closely watching partner to some degree.

"What's wrong? Have you forgotten how to do it?" he asked, getting up as well.

"No, that's not it... Uhm... I think I should warn you about something before I pull in a timeline," she explained nervously. "You can see some pretty weird things if you're unlucky..."

Cobal turned even more confused. "Weird how?"

"Uhm..." Ri scratched her chin and looked into the air, not really sure how to explain it to him. "There's a chance that we might interrupt someone in a rather intimate moment..."

"Interrupt someone in an intimate moment?" It took him a second to realize what she was implying. "A-are you serious?!" he asked, more shocked than embarrassed in any way.

A blush appeared on Ri's cheeks. "Y-yeah... I accidentally got a peek of two Pokemon yesterday..." she said, not daring to look at him. Her unnaturally nervous eyes definitly would've given away that there was a little more to it than that.

Shaking her head to regain her composure, Ri faced Cobal again. "Let's just get this over with, okay?"

"Okay," the bandaged fighting-type responded, a little uneasy about messing with the artifact now.

Ri took one deep breath and focused, tightening her grip on the gear in her hand. She slowly let her aura seep into the Time Gear, receiving a light-green glow from it. A small green sphere fo energy formed around the artifact and quickly extended outwards, causing both Lucario to feel a second of dizziness and disorientation as it went through them.

From moment to the next everything around them was covered in green light and changed into a different scenery. Transparent, stone buildings were now standing along the stone-brick street that had appeared beneath them. Torches that had been attached to the sides of the houses were lighting up the image of the slowly darkening town. Everything was still overlain by the usual vegetation of the Southern Jungle, trees and buildings clipping together at some spots.

"W-whoa!" Cobal took a look around him, noticing many Pokemon that were running along the road.

Most of the transparent Pokemon stopped in their tracks when they noticed them, giving the two Lucario looks of either shock or utter confusion.

Ri turned a little nervous, careful not to break up the flow of aura for the gear. "Uhm..."

"Where did those buildings come from?" Cobal asked, turning equally unsettled. The stares they were receiving weren't really comfortable.

"I guess there's a town in this timeline," the girl figured, stepping a little closer to the knight.

The townsfolk had gotten over the initial shock of Ri's and Cobal sudden appearance and shouted out the first questions.

"W-what is going on here?!"

"Why are those two Lucario glowing?"

"How are you doing that?!"

Ri decided to end the situation before it could get out of hand and broke her focus on the Time Gear. The green scenery of the town instantly disappeared, their camp returning back to it's original state.

Cobal blinked a couple of times and turned towards Ri. He stayed silent for a moment to process everything before he spoke up again. "That town just appeared out of nowhere..."

"Like I said, it's completely random..." the Spirit of Faith replied, putting the Time Gear back into her pouch. "We also could've gotten a timeline where the placement of a single tree was different for example."

"Have you tried to completely go to another timeline before?" the knight asked while they sat back down onto the logs.

"No..." she responded, shaking her head. "I don't really have any control over what the Time Gear does. I can just activate and deactivate it with my aura and that's it."

Cobal folded his arms and put his right paw up to his chin. "So you can't travel through time yet," he muttered in a thoughtful tone.

"Uhm..." Ri began, regaining the gaze of his unbandaged eye. "You said that I might've absorbed some of the Time Gear's energy when I first touched it back at Fogbound Lake, remember?"

He furrowed an eyebrow. "Yes, what about it?"

"What if I can get more control over the gear's power or even completely different abilities by absorbing the energy of the remaining Time Gears?" the girl questioned, with an offering motion of her hand.

Cobal thought about that possibility for a moment before he lowered his paw from his chin and gave her nod. "You could be onto something here but what kind of different abilities are you talking about?"

"I don't know..." Ri folded her arms and mimicked his thoughtful look. "I've seen a movie where a girl is able to reverse time so maybe I could do that?"

The male Lucario turned confused to this. "Ehm... Excuse me, but what is a movie?"

She blinked as she found some infomation she hadn't known about in her mind. "Huh?"

Ri remember watching a movie about a girl that discovered the power to reverse time. Blurry images and comments of Elly were mixed together with the different scenes of sitting inside the cinema and watching the girl use her power to stop some kind of catastrophe.

The female Lucario scratched her chin and gave her partner a nervous smile. "Uhm... How should I explain this? Do you Pokemon have theaters?"

Cobal nodded. "Yes, we do... Is a movie something like a stage play?"

She nodded back with an expression of delight. "Something like that, yeah."

"Reversing time..." the knight repeated, trying to imagine such an ability in his mind.

"We have to get another Time Gear before we can test out this theory though..." Ri continued with a sigh.

A moment of silence followed before Cobal turned back to the Spirit of Faith. "We could find out whether you really are from another timeline that way, Ri... If you don't get any other abilities than controlling timelines then we can be sure from which time you come from."

"Y-you're right," she replied, a little surprised by his theory. "It could also solve the little problem with the Time Gear from Treeshroud Forest. Maybe I can seperate with it after I get enough control over this time manipulation stuff."

While her partner nodded to this, Ri leaned her elbows onto her thighs and let out another sigh. "Right now these powers are pretty much useless though... Pulling in a random timeline isn't going to help me in a fight."

**~ Stop music**

"Speaking of which, I think we should come up with a plan for Team Charm. Just like Team Work, they might not believe us..." Cobal warned.

A serious expression wandered onto Ri's face in response. "With your current condition, I'd have to fight them alone..." She looked away and thought to herself for a second before she spoke up again. "If they don't know any speed-enhancing moves, then my Gentle Knockout Style could easily deal with them."

The knight didn't protest but gave her an obvious look of disapproval. "I don't see a problem there for Medicham and Gardevoir but Lopunny are usually able to use Agility, Ri..."

She nodded to herself. "That means I'll have to come up with something else for that one..."

"Have you tried to use Sacred sword yet?" Cobal questioned.

Ri blinked and raised her elbows from her thighs. "Uhm... No, I haven't."

"Let me try." She got up from the log and created some distance with their campfire, facing one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. The Lucario then readjusted her clothing, got into the stance of a kendo fighter and slowly formed a dense stream of aura in her hands.

Cobal watched closely while the girl focused her gaze on her target, increased the amount of aura she sent into her Sacred Sword and dashed forward. She hit the tree with a wide swing, particles of aura flying into every direction from the horizontal "cut".

Getting back into a casual posture, she let the beam in her hand disappear and looked at the tree in front of her. The tree's bark had been ripped up a little and seemed to have been scorched somehow. 'It didn't cut... Even with that much aura.'

"Hmm... It leaves shreds rather than cuts," Cobal commented from their campfire.

Noticing some exhaustion, Ri wiped some sweat off the bottom of her chin before she faced her partner again. "Yeah... And it really does eat through a lot of aura... I probably only have six or seven shots of this before I run out."

"I assume you're okay with using that move in battle that way," the bandaged knight called.

"Yes, I'm sure this will come in handy if we have to face any dark-types. But I wish there was a way to use less aura wi-" She stopped mid-sentence and stared into the air in front of her with blank expression for a second. A jolt of pain bolted through her head and her eyes shut tight when the familiar desire triggered voices of another memory shred.

...

_"I wish there was a way to use less aura with it..."_

_"Maybe there is... Have you learned how to use Bone Rush yet?"_

...

Shaking her head to get rid of the pain, Ri raised her head and stared back into the air as some new knowledge had suddenly appeared alongside the memory.

"Ri?" Cobal called, getting the perplexed girl's attention.

"There is a way..." she said, more to herself than to her partner. "I remember... I remember why I learned Bone Rush!"

Before her Cobal could say anything in response, Ri suddenly made a dash towards the jungle. "I'm sorry Cobal, but I have to try something and don't want to hurt you if I mess it up!" she yelled over her shoulder, leaving Cobal to himself with a baffled expression on his face.

His gaze was fixed onto the bushes she had disappeared into for a while. Folding his arms and closing his eye, the Lucario let out a sigh. "Why is it that women always run away from me..."

* * *

**Three hours later...**

* * *

Cobal was slowly getting worried. The sun had already set and Ri still hadn't returned from the jungle.

He was just about to get up from the log where he had killed time by ordering his supplies over and over when the Spirit of Faith reappeared on the back of the clearing.

Her jacket and the black dress underneath it were covered in dust and for some reason she was clutching her right arm with her left one.

"Where have you been?" the knight asked while she walked back to their fire-pit and sat down onto her log.

"Training..." Ri answered with a happy smile.

"Training?" Cobal repeated, slightly confused now.

"Yes, uhm... I remembered a technique and just wanted to try it out." She chuckled nervously. "But I kinda lost track of time and tried out some other things too..."

The knight sweatdropped in response and gave her an annoyed smile. "You lost track of time and tried some other things?" He shook his head, deciding to let it slip and asked his actual question. "A technique?"

She nodded and gave him a confident smirk. "Yeah... I remember why I learned Bone Rush."

Holding out her right fist in front of her, the female Lucario closed her eyes and exhaled. A small flame of blue energy formed around it when she focused her aura into her. Ri brought her left palm next to it and opened her eyes again, slowly pulling her arms apart as if she was unsheathing a sword.

A dense blade of aura formed between them until the Lucario held a silver and light-blue glowing sword in her extended right hand. The weapon resembled an eastern sword with a bone-shaped handle. "This Bone Blade is the reason I learned Bone Rush."

"Does it cut?" Cobal asked in response, inspecting the weapon with a curious look.

Ri nodded. "Yes, it does... Sacred Sword, as you might know, is a move that lets you attack your opponent's aura with your own. Usually by sending it through a physical medium..." she began to explain. "Bone Rush is a move where you give your aura a solid form by increasing it's density." Ri pointed the weapon upwards and turned it to give Cobal a better view of it. "This is a combination of both... A solid blade that is able to cut and disrupt your opponent's aura."

She gave her partner a smile. "Why should I use a weapon when I can just use my own aura as a conduit?"

"T-this is amazing... But how are you using less aura? You're just using both at the-" He realized the answer to his question and stopped for a second before an expression of awe wandered onto his face.

She responded with another smile. "The sword itself is made up of the positive energy you need for the Sacred Sword. Because I'm keeping it even more dense than my normal bones, there's less aura radiating from it and therefore less of my reserves are lost."

"Wanna know what's even better?" She stabbed the sword into the ground and let go of it. "Just like my normal bones, it won't immediately disappear if I break contact with."

"Amazing," Cobal said, watching the slowly dimming sword.

"It only remains a couple of seconds though..." Ri sighed as the blade faded into blue and silver particles of aura.

Cobal recalled her distaste for using an actual weapon that could've seriously injured somebody. "Didn't you say that you wouldn't use Sacred Sword if it physically cut?"

"Uhm... Yes, I did... But after thinking about your fight with Suke, I've realized something... The real reason I learned this technique..." Her gaze fell onto the scabbard on his belt. "I don't have a way to properly deal with Pokemon that use actual weapons alongside their moves. I mean sure, I can use my normal bones to block but they aren't durable enough to compete with a real weapon. The stronger density and shape required for a Bone Blade changes that."

"Are you going to use it offensively?" he asked further.

Ri looked at the ground in front of her and thought about it for a second. "It depends on the situation, I guess... I've been trying some kendo katas and some movements I've seen from you for a while... I think I can avoid vital points with my current skill."

The knight nodded in response to her decision. "Anything else you tried?"

Ri faced him again and was just about to open her mouth when she suddenly spaced out. There had been something else she had tried but why should she tell him?

Cobal turned confused when he noticed a faint glint of purple in her eyes and the strangely competetive smirk she was giving him.

"Woman's secret," the girl said.

"Woman's secret?" he repeated slightly perplexed now.

"I'm not going to tell you about all of my techniques... I want to fight you in an all out fight sometime... Mega-Evolution and everything!" Ri declared with a wink.

Cobal was baffled for a second. "Y-you want to fight me in an all out fight?"

"Of course I do! You're strong as hell!" Her wink turned into a bright smile. "It wouldn't really be fair if you knew all of my tricks beforehand, wouldn't it?"

He tried to get comfortable with the idea of fighting her in an all out fight and let it go through his mind. "I guess so..."

A short moment of silence followed before Ri brought up the next topic.

"Anyway... Uhm... Do you remember my Demon's Embrace technique?" she asked, turning a little uncomfortable. "I think it's time we talk about it."

Cobal's thoughtful expression returned to a curious one. "Yes... Have you found a way to deal with it yet?"

"Yeah..." Ri brought her left arm up to the small, black gem that was attached to the piece of cloth on her right upper arm. "If I use this Dark Gem, I can activate it on my own."

"You can activate it with a Dark Gem?" he repeated in a questioning tone before he muttered something to himself. "I thought these Type Gems only strengthen one of your attack if you use them."

She nodded. "Yeah, I heard it in a memory... I really hope it turns out to be true."

"You said that it's a technique where you draw out the darkest part of your soul. How... How did it feel like?" Cobal asked.

"How it felt like?" Ri blinked and recalled the times she had been in that state.

After a moment of thinking, a shameful look wandered onto her face while she leaned her elbows onto her knees and stared onto the ground between her legs. "Every sense of morality, right or wrong, was gone... Pain, exhaustion... All of those things just went into the background and the only thing I could think of was that I had to keep attacking. I... I felt as if I could keep fighting forever without having to hold back." She unawarely bit her lip. _'Finally being able to fight without having to hold back... It felt good...'_

"You could test it out now..." her partner suggested.

"Uhm... I don't think that's a good idea," Ri disapproved. "There's a risk that I might attack you once the anger hits me."

"Oh, I see... Have you figured out anything else about it? Some new memories perhaps?" Cobal asked.

"Uhm... I... I think I-" Ri stopped there suddenly.

She could've told him about the voice she had heard when it activated the last time but something kept her from doing it. For some reason she felt scared all of a sudden... A cold shiver ran down her spine and her breath halted for a second when she tried to open her mouth again. 'I don't want to tell him... I don't want to tell him that something like this is inside of me...'

Diverting her gaze, the Spirit of Faith folded her arms and lightly clutched her upper arms. "N-no..."

Cobal had noticed her sudden weird behavior. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine..." Lowering her gaze, she decided to answer his question another way.

"I'm still trying to figure out what even brought me to learning the technique." Her grip unawarely tightended before she continued. "I don't want to kill... I just don't understand why I would learn it if it turns me into a moster."

"A monster?" Cobal wasn't sure if he had seen a monster when she had used it against Uxie. "You didn't seem like a monster to me at all..."

"Huh?" Ri turned surprised by that.

"The aura I felt from you was strange... It was yours, mixed with a lot of anger but it wasn't wild or uncontrolled in any way," he explained.

"Is that normal?" she questioned, a little worried now.

"No... If you're angry, your aura usually fluctuates in a very recognizable way. But I didn't feel that from you at all. I'm sorry to tell you this but..." The look in his eye turned serious while he leaned forward and put his elbows onto his thighs. "It felt like completely focused, ice cold killing intent..."

Ri's eyes widened to that for a short moment. 'All he felt from me was killing intent? H-have I really been that way?' She tried to imagine herself like that but simply couldn't do it. Everytime she tried to form an image of herself in her head, something inside of her would immediately deny the very idea of being that way and cause her mind to go blank again.

After shaking her head in frustration, Ri turned back to her partner with a sad look. "Uhm... Can we talk about something else?"

Understanding her discomfort, Cobal responded with a wry smile. "Of course... What do you want to talk about?"

She diverted her gaze. "I don't know... You could tell me more about being a knight or something..."

Cobal folded his arms and stared into the air in front of, trying to recollect some memories. "Well... I already told you the daily duties of a knight when we travelled to Treasure Town..."

"Well, uhm... What do you usually do when you're not on duty?" the Spirit of Faith asked.

He scratched his chin. "Oh... Ehm... Well, when we were recruits we usually went for some drinks at one of the bars in the market district after our shifts."

"Drinks? Like alcohol? Really?" Ri asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," he nodded. "Do you have it in your world too?"

"Uhm, yeah... But I think you have to be 18 or something until you're allowed to drink," the female Lucario replied, somewhat able to remember a little information from her world.

"So you have an age restriction too?" Cobal asked a little surprised. "It's 16 on Alteal and Treasure."

"Really?" Ri mimicked his expression. 'So I'm allowed to drink... I don't remember but I guess since I'm 17, I already had my first drinks in this world...'

"Anyway, I still like to end my days with a drink or two when I'm finished with a mission. I guess I could tell you a couple of stories about the other knights and recruits..." Cobal continued. "Are you okay with that?"

"Better than talking about Demon's Embrace..." she answered with a half-hearted smile.

"Alright then..." The knight cleared his throat before he began with his story. "Well, the first time we went to that bar was actually the toughest for me. Our instructor went along with us and..."

* * *

**About an hour of story-telling later...**

* * *

"Uhm... Let's call it a day," Ri suggested with a yawn after Cobal's last story about a recruit that had passed out in the middle of the market district. "I'm pretty tired..."

"Oh... Alright," Cobal replied.

They got up from their logs and headed towards their tents. Ri noticed his rather botchy sleeping place and suddenly spaced out. _'Heh... Let's see how he will react to this.'_

Stopping right in front of the entrance to her tent, Ri faced her partner with a mischievous grin, causing the knight to stop as well with a slightly confused expression.

"Are you sure that tent is going to last the night? It looks like it might break down any moment..." she asked.

Somewhat offended, Cobal responded with a low growl of annoyance. "Well, excuuse me... I haven't built up a tent in years. I usually sleep at inns when I'm on missions."

His grumpy reaction ammused her enough for a chuckle but she decided to mess with him even further. "Or did you build up your tent like that on purpose?"

Putting up a submissive expression and bringing her left arm up to her chest, she opened up her dark-green tent with her right one. "Uhm... Because if you wanted to sleep in the same tent with me then you just could have asked, m-master..." Ri said in a maid-like manner.

The knight immediately turned flustered and stared at her with a look of disbelief.

Letting out a short laugh, the female Lucario responded with a wink and another mischievous grin. "Good night, Cobal!"

While she layed down onto her back, she heard a growl and the noises of someone opening their tent. After she chuckled at her partner's reaction again, Ri was slowly getting aware of the fact that she had submitted herself as a maid to Cobal yet again. 'W-wait! Did I just...?'

A faint blush wandered onto her face. 'Oh my god, I really did it again... This is so embarrassing... Why on earth did I do tha-' She stopped there and immediately went into denial again. Her hands went up to the sides of her head, a grunt of distress left her mouth and she tossed her legs around while she rolled from left to right.

Somewhat exhausted after that, the girl let her limbs fall down to the sides of her body and quickly closed her eyes with the intention of falling asleep as fast as possible.

The faint hint of pink wouldn't leave her cheeks until she finally drifted into slumber, however.

* * *

**The next morning...**

* * *

After a good night of rest, Ri and Cobal started their morning with a quick breakfast. The awkwardness from the day before wasn't completely forgotten but both of them had more important things to worry about.

Sitting on the logs besides the fire-place, Ri let out a heavy sigh. She had tried to contact Celsius yet again, however, just like the days before the Kirlia didn't respond to any of her calls. "Celsius still isn't answering..."

Cobal responded with a sad look for a moment. "I'm sure she just needs some time to recover... She was attacked by a legendary Pokemon after all."

"I hope you're right..." Ri replied, still a little worried. Her gaze moved onto the knight's bandaged eye. "How's your eye by the way? Peon said that you should eat a Sitrus Berry if you're feeling any pain."

Cobal's paw moved up to the bandage that covered the left side of his face. "I ate one yesterday because I couldn't sleep with the constant stinging... I didn't feel any pain today however."

"Should we change the bandages?" the female Lucario questioned.

"Yes... I'd be happy if I could remove them completely," Cobal answered, picking out some first-aid items from one of the pouches on his belt.

"Uhm... Peon said that you'll have some scars... Let's remove them and see how they healed up," Ri got up from her log and moved over to the knight. Kneeling down in front of him, she began to carefully remove the white cloth that was wrapped around his chest.

A faint blush managed to crawl onto the knight's face as the way the Spirit of Faith was crouching in front of him caused some inapproapriate ideas to rush through his mind. He quickly turned away in an attempt to hide his flustered look while Ri continued to unwrap the bandages.

After about a minute, Ri had removed all of his bandages and inspected the two scars that now permanently stuck on her partner. A slim horizontal line of tender flesh could be seen on his chest, right below his chest-spike. It was partially covered by his cream-colored fur but visible nevertheless.

"I think it's healed," Ri said, carefully stroking over the scar. Cobal didn't react with any signs of pain, so she assumed that Peon and the Sitrus Berry from yesterday had done their work.

His left eye on the other hand didn't look so good. A scar was running over his closed eye, from his eyebrow down to his cheek bone. Cobal hadn't opened it yet but Ri could tell that it wasn't fully healed yet. A tear of blood was running down from his eyelids.

"Uhm... I'm not sure about your eye... Can you open it?" she asked.

The knight slowly opened his eye and revealed a slightly red eyeball with a completely white iris and pupil. "How does it look?"

"Uhm...Still a little red," Ri took a small tissue and wiped away the bloody tear. "I think we should cover it up again."

Cobal moved away from her a bit and shook his head, closing his eye again. "I'll just leave it closed. I really don't like the feeling of wearing a bandage around my head all the time."

The girl responded with a stern look for a second before she suddenly remembered something. "Wait! This is a great opportunity to give you something!"

Ri's paws moved down to the pouch on her right leg, putting a confused look onto Cobal's face. She pulled out a black item and covered it in her fist.

"What is it?" the scarf-wearing Lucario asked.

Ri got back onto her feet and gave her partner a smile. "A present. I got it for you at Bornett's yesterday."

Cobal inspected the item that she revealed in her right hand. It was a black eyepatch with black strings. "An eyepatch?"

"Yep, I thought you'd look cool with it," she replied.

Unsure how to react at first, Cobal just stared at it for a moment before and amused expression wandered onto his face. "Thank you."

He took it out of her hand and carefully put on the accessory. "How do I look?"

Ri gave him a mischievous grin. "Like a pirate! Arr!"

The knight just sweatdropped to that. "Really?"

"Haha! I'm just kidding. It looks good on you-" She stopped there, spacing out as the mischief in her eyes intensified. "The 'teenage-maid fetish, pirate look' really suits you!"

"Teenage-maid fetish?!" Cobal repeated in an annoyed, yet flustered tone.

Realizing what she just said, Ri waved her arms in front of her with a faint blush. "S-sorry! Forget what I just said!"

Sighing to get over that little comment, Cobal gave the still embarrassed girl a thankful smile. "Thank you, Ri. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," she replied with a nervous chuckle. "A-anyway, I think we should pack up our stuff now.

The two began to pack up their tents and prepare all of their equipment. After about half an hour, the two Lucario were standing in front of the entrance to Boulder Quarry, Cobal carrying their bags and Ri ready to take on the dungeon.

...

The first moment they stepped into the dungeon, the scenery immediately changed after a short blackout. A rocky, purple corridor appeared around them and the usual dungeon atmosphere washed over their bodies.

Ri took the lead and walked past the other Lucario, determined to clear the dungeon as fast as possible. "Come on, let's get going..."

The exploration wasn't as eventful as their trip through Southern Jungle yesterday. Only a couple of the dungeon's illusions got in their way and most traps they came across weren't anything to worry about.

Ri reated her Bone Blade on the second floor to deal with some of the tougher rock-types the dungeon created and kept it materialized until they found the very last staircase. Just like the day before, she trained to improve her aim so she wouldn't accidentally hit any vital spots on her opponents. She had also found out that the blade seemed to be able to deal fighting and ground-type damage at the same time.

...

After the last split second of darkness, a new scenery appeared before Ri and Cobal.

Ri remembered the familiar two corridors and the unsuspecting, purple-stoned wall between them from her last exploration with Grovyle.

"Do you know where we have to go?" Cobal asked, already walking forward.

"Of course, I do... Both of have already been here," Ri answered in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I just wanted to make sure... I still haven't figured out how this illusion works..." he replied as they reached the wall and stopped in front of it.

"Does it really matter? What counts is that we can pass through here and get into Limestone Cavern," Ri said, moving her hands towards the barrier.

Her partner stopped her by grabbing onto her wrist however. "Wait a second, Ri. What if Team Charm is waiting for in front of the entrance to the dungeon?"

She got out of his grip and gave him a confident smirk. "We'll just give them a nice greeting and see if we can talk things through. Don't worry, I'm sure I can handle them."

Although not fully convinced, the eye-patch wearing Lucario gave her a worried look before he sighed in defeat. "Fine... I'll let you handle this... But I can't promise that I won't interfere if things go downhill."

"Let's just get this over with," Ri said, heading through the illusionary wall.

Cobal sighed again and quickly followed his partner.

What they saw before them after passing through the barrier caused the two Lucario to stop in their tracks. Half of the rather spacious room made out of rocky limestone was robbed of all of its colors. Some openings in the cavern's ceiling were lighting up the scene. The waterfalls and bodies of water that were scattered all around the time-frozen area seemed to be in complete stasis.

"Here starts the frozen area..." Ri commented as they slowly walked up to the invisible barrier. 'It's strange... The area was a lot bigger at Fogbound Lake. Maybe the area above the cave is frozen too.'

"Don't forget to drop you Aura Garment, Ri..." Cobal advised. "We wouldn't want you to lose all of your aura before Team Charm even showed up."

"Oh, right!" The girl stopped again and began to focus on the thin layer if aura around her body. When she was just about to throw it off, an unknown voice suddenly echoed through the cavern.

**~ BGM: Fly me to the Moon - Bayonetta (Extended)**

"Special Attack~! Dramatic Entrance~!"

Before Ri could even fully register the shout, she felt a very hard impact at the left side of her face that sent her flying to her right. "Aagh!"

"Ri!" Cobal shouted, looking after the soaring girl while the responsible figure landed on the spot Ri had been standing on.

The Spirit of Faith landed rather roughly on the stone floor, not too far from the time-frozen area. After a quick backward roll, Ri jumped back onto her feet, rubbed her now sore cheek and move her gaze towards the figure that had just attacked her with gritted teeth.

It was a brown, very feminine-looking, rabbid-like creature that she immediately recognized as a Lopunny. A pair of rather fancy glasses, which had a little locket with a black and brown marble hanging down from the right frame, was sitting on its nose.

'Is that...?'

"Look who strolled onto our dance floor..." it said in a feminine voice while a Gardevoir with a very long, wine-red scarf and a Medicham wearing fancy bracelets on its wrists appeared besides her out of nowhere.

From their appearances alone, they could already tell that all of them were female.

Ri and Cobal were only able to stare at them when the three Pokemon got into dramatic poses and a spotlight suddenly shined onto them from above.

'Where the hell did that spotlight come from?!' Just when Ri realized that the Gardevoir must've shot a Dazzling Gleam into the air to create the effect, the three Pokemon continued with their show.

"Strength!" the Madicham exclaimed, letting some of her aura radiate around her.

"Knowledge!" the Gardevoir continued, flicking up her scarf.

"Beauty!" Lopunny added with a seductive wink.

The three females pointed their hands towards Ri in an syncronized motion. "Team Charm, at your service!"

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**End of Chapter - 44**

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_A Bayonetta inspired Team Charm is going to be interesting, right?_

_..._

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

_We got more "dark-humour Ri" scenes as some of you liked to call them. I really enjoy writing them._

_I'd pay some attention to those "detective mode" scenes if I were you. There's a little hint on what might be going on with our protagonist lately._

_So we have a 'new' technique for Ri... Really curious what you think about that Bone Blade. I bet some of you already know where this is going._

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_**Trivia-Section:**_

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_**Bone Blade**_

_Technique - Physical - Ground/Fighting Type_

_This technique, created by the Spirit of Faith, is a combination of Sacred Sword and Bone Rush._

_The user creates a solid sword from their aura which can then be used for a variety of sword styles and techniques. It deals fighting and ground-type damage at the same time and is especially effective against dark-types due to the positive energy that is used to form the weapon._

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_See you in the next one! Let's hope you won't have to wait another month. *laughs nervously*_

_Next time: VS Team Charm - Glamorous strategy_

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**_Comments, questions, suggestions? Leave a review!_**


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